THE  TRUE 
AARON  BURR 

TODD 


r- 
co 

CO 


of  $4 
4  a  California  - 


Iflaus   Sprecfeels 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR 


A  Biographical  Sketch 


BY 

CHARLES    BURR    TODD 

Author  of  "Story  of  the  City  of  New  York,"    "Story  of  Washington,  the 

National  Capital" 


NEW  YORK 

A.  S.  BARNES  &  COMPANY 
1902 


SPHECKELS 

COPYRIGHT,  1902 

BY 
CHARLES  BURR  TODD 

ALL   RIGHTS    RESERVED 

Published  May,  1902 


FOREWORD  TO  THE  READER. 

IN  later  life  Colonel  Aaron  Burr  took  into  his  law  office  several  young 
men  of  brilliant  parts  whom  he  educated  for  the  bar,  and  some  of 
whom  he  adopted.  To  these  young  men  who  had  his  confidence  he 
was  fond  of  talking  of  the  men  and  events  of  his  career.  Some  of  these 
men  the  writer  was  privileged  to  know,  and  to  him  as  a  collateral  descend 
ant  of  Colonel  Burr  and  the  historian  of  his  family,  they  repeated  his  remi 
niscences  and  talked  more  freely  of  his  plans  and  purposes  as  revealed 
by  him  than  they  would  have  done  to  a  stranger,  so  that  this  little  book, 
in  so  far  as  it  relates  to  certain  phases  of  Colonel  Burr's  career  in  contro 
versy,  may  be  said  to  have  been  inspired  by  that  gentleman  himself  and 
to  express  his  views  in  the  historical  controversy  between  himself  and  the 
American  people — or  rather  between  him  and  certain  mendacious  writers 
of  history  who,  for  the  past  fifty  years,  have  left  no  depth  of  falsehood  or 
slander  unsounded  in  their  effort  to  prove  Aaron  Burr  a  traitor  and  a 
murderer.  The  historic  fact  that  after  a  trial  lasting  months,  with  the 
President  of  the  United  States  personally  directing  it,  and  urging  on  his 
dogs  of  war,  a  prejudiced  jury  was  compelled  to  declare  the  accused 
innocent  of  treason  would  have  cleared  most  men — but  it  did  not  Aaron 
Burr  ;  and  why  not  ?  Because  there  were  men,  many  men,  interested  in 
having  him  declared  a  traitor. 

Colonel  Burr  trusted  to  the  twentieth  century  to  vindicate  him,  and 
certain  signs  of  the  times  indicate  that  his  trust  was  not  in  vain. 

In  Mr.  John  Codman's  recent  account  of  the  Benedict  Arnold  Expe 
dition  against  Quebec, 'no  mention  is  made  of  Burr's  gallant  conduct  on 
the  march,  in  volunteering  to  carry  dispatches  to  Montgomery  when 
every  other  man  in  the  command  had  refused,  nor  of  his  still  more  splen 
did  achievement  in  bearing  off  the  body  of  Montgomery  from  the  field 

iii 

1.00492 


IV  FOREWORD    TO    THE  READER 

before  Quebec, — both  as  well  substantiated  as  the  storming  of  Bunker 
Hill, — but  he  goes  out  of  his  way  to  narrate  the  false  and  slanderous  story 
of  his  intrigue  with  an  Indian  girl.  The  above  facts  must  have  been  per 
fectly  well  known  to  Mr.  Codman.  Why  then  did  he  omit  them  ?  Mani 
festly  out  of  deference  to  his  own  prejudices  or  those  of  his  readers. 

Again,  in  Mr.  William  Eleroy  Curtis's  "True  Thomas  Jefferson,"  the 
following  statement  is  made  : 

"Within  a  few  years  an  examination  of  the  archives  of  the  Foreign 
Offices  of  London,  Madrid,  and  Paris  has  disclosed  unpublished  corre 
spondence  with  their  representatives  in  Washington  during  the  Jefferson 
administration  which  throws  a  great  deal  of  light  upon  the  Burr  con 
spiracy  and  leaves  no  doubt  of  his  treason." 

We  challenge  Mr.  Curtis  to  give  his  authorities.  He  will  not  because 
he  cannot.  Everything  favorable  to  Burr  was  religiously  eliminated  from 
the  State  Papers  bearing  on  that  subject  now  in  Washington,  but  his 
enemies  forgot  the  old  Spanish  archives  at  New  Orleans  and  Mexico, 
and  among  them  a  young  American  investigator  has  found  ample  proof 
that  Colonel  Burr  intended  only  the  capture  of  Mexico  and  its  ultimate 
annexation  to  the  United  States.  Mr.  McCaleb's  book  will  shortly  be 
published,  and  will  no  doubt  prove  a  veritable  thunderbolt  in  the  ranks  of 
the  tories. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  say  that  in  writing  this  book  I  had  not  seen  Mr. 
Charles  Felton  Pidgin's  excellent  historical  novel  "Blennerhasset,"  and  it 
is  very  gratifying  to  find  him  taking  substantially  the  same  view  of  Colonel 
Burr's  career  as  that  expressed  in  these  pages. 

C.  B.  T. 

NEW  YORK, 

December  i,  1901. 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR 


COLONEL  AARON  BURR. 

IN  the  army  of  General  Washington  which  throughout  the  hot  summer 
of  1776  was  engaged  in  the  mad  attempt  to  fortify  the  city  of  New 
York  against  an  overpowering  British  force  were  two  young  officers 
of  brilliant  genius,  unbounded  ambition,  and  winning  personality,  before 
whom  the  most  successful  careers  seemed  opening,  but  whom  fate  had 
decreed  should  oppose  each  other  in  life  and  in  the  end  destroy  one  the 
other — Captain  Aaron  Burr  and  Captain  Alexander  Hamilton.  Of  the 
two  Burr  was  far  superior  in  birth,  position,  and  prestige.  His  father 
was  the  Rev.  Aaron  Burr,  D.D.,  the  eminent  divine  whom  Princetonians 
will  always  revere  as  the  true  founder  of  their  University.  His  maternal 
grandfather  was  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  most  illustrious  divine 
America  had  ever  produced.  His  Burr  forbears  had  been  the  chiefest 
pillars  of  the  colonial  fabric  of  Connecticut.  A  collateral  ancestor, 
Colonel  Andrew  Burr,  had  led  the  colony  forces  to  the  capture  of  Louis- 
burg  in  1745.  Another,  Peter  Burr,  was  Chief  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  Connecticut,  Major  in  her  train  bands,  and  one  of  the  earliest 
graduates  of  Harvard  College.  A  third,  Samuel  Burr,  graduated  at  Har 
vard  in  1697,  and  became  head-master  of  the  famous  grammar  school  at 
Charlestown,  Mass.  A  fourth,  Jehu  Burr,  may  be  considered  the  author 
of  the  present  excellent  school  system  of  Connecticut. 

Burr's  grandfather,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  was  the  son  of  Rev. 
Thomas  Edwards,  who  was  the  son  of  Richard  Edwards,  who  in  1667 
married  Elisabeth,  daughter  of  that  William  Tuthill  who  in  1635  removed 
from  Old  England  to  New  England  and  became  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  city  of  New  Haven,  Conn.  This  William  Tuthill  was  a  great-great- 
grandson  of  Joan  Grafton,  daughter  of  Richard  Grafton,  who  descended 
in  direct  line  from  Alfred  the  Great.  Considering  the  blood  in  his  veins 


2  THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

vone  might  assert  with  confidence  that  it  was  impossible  for  Aaron  Burr 
to  have  been  a  traitor. 

Hamilton,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  waif,  an  estray,  an  alien.  His 
birthplace,  St.  Nevis,  was  an  obscure  island,  a  solitary  rock  far  out  in 
the  Atlantic,  of  which  not  one  American  in  ten  thousand  had  ever  heard. 
His  reputed  father,  a  Scotch  merchant,  early  emigrated  to  the  island  and 
had  conducted  his  affairs  there  so  illy  that  the  sheriff  sold  him  out,  and 
the  lad,  Alexander,  became  dependent  on  the  charity  of  relatives,  by 
whom  he  had  been  sent  to  America  and  educated  at  Kings,  now  Colum 
bia,  College  in  New  York. 

Captain  Burr  was  born  in  the  parsonage  of  the  First  Church,  Newark, 
N.  J.  (of  which  his  father  was  then  pastor),  on  February  6,  1756.  Before 
he  was  two  years  old  he  had  lost  father,  mother,  grandparents,  and 
orphaned  and  desolate  went  to  live  with  his  uncle,  Timothy  Edwards, 
eldest  son  of  President  Edwards.  Edwards  was  a  strict  martinet,  steeped 
in  the  cold,  rigid  puritan  theology  of  the  day,  who  lived  in  the  shadow 
of  Sinai  rather  than  in  the  sweetness  and  light,  the  love  and  compassion 
of  the  Mount  of  Beatitudes,  and  was  wholly  unfit  for  the  rearing  of  a 
warm-hearted,  impulsive,  high-spirited  lad  like  Aaron  Burr.  To  his  cold- 

tness,  inappreciation,  and  unwise  government  may  be  attributed  much 
that  was  faulty  in  the  character  and  subsequent  career  of  his  distinguished 
nephew. 

The  boy  had  been  left  an  ample  patrimony  and  his  uncle  made  free 
use  of  it  in  his  education ;  he  provided  for  him  an  excellent  tutor,  Tap- 

'  pan  Reeve,  who  some  years  later  became  his  brother-in-law,  and  later 
still  was  widely  known  as  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Connec 
ticut,  and  founder  of  the  Litchfield  Law  School.  So  precocious  was  the 
lad,  that  at  eleven  he  was  ready  for  college,  and  applied  to  the  faculty 
of  Princeton  for  admission,  but  was  refused  solely,  as  he  himself  said, 
14  on  account  of  his  years  and  inches."  He  contrived,  however,  to 
triumph  over  the  faculty  by  entering  the  sophomore  class  two  years  later, 
in  1769,  and  graduated  with  distinction  in  September,  1772. 

The  year  that  followed  was  spent  partly  at  Princeton,  among  his 
books,  and  partly  at  Elizabethtown  in  pursuit  of  those  manly  sports 


THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR.  3 

which  young  men  of  fortune  sometimes  affect.  During  this  year,  too, 
the  subject  of  a  profession  was  much  in  his  thoughts.  His  friends  and 
the  Presbyterian  world  generally  expected  him  to  choose  the  profession 
which  his  father  and  grandfather  had  so  adorned.  Conscience,  and  the 
silent  influence  of  the  dead  impelled  him  in  the  same  direction.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  had  no  doubt  imbibed  much  of  the  speculative  French 
philosophy  then  rife,  and  which,  while  it  questioned  the  truth  of  revela 
tion,  pointed  to  the  attainment  of  fame,  and  the  indulgence  of  passion  as 
the  chief  means  of  obtaining  happiness.  In  this  state  of  indecision,  he 
became,  in  the  fall  of  1774,  an  inmate  of  Dr.  Bellamy's  famous  school  at 
Bethlehem,  Connecticut.  This  gentleman  was  the  successor  in  theology 
of  President  Edwards,  and  his  reputation  for  learning  and  piety  attracted 
to  his  home  so  many  candidates  for  the  ministry,  that  it  assumed  quite 
the  character  of  a  theological  seminary. 

Here  Burr  fought  the  great  battle  of  Armageddon. 

We  cannot  give  the  details  of  the  conflict,  nor  say  how  largely  the  re 
sult  was  due  to  the  absurd  and  repelling  system  of  theology  then  in 
vogue,  but  we  know  that  the  result  of  his  studies  was  a  conviction,  to  use 
his  own  words,  ' '  that  the  road  to  heaven  was  open  to  all  alike. ' '  He 
became  an  agnostic.  He  did  not  know.  Thereafter  on  all  religious 
questions  he  simply  suspended  judgment. 

In  the  fall  of  1774,  we  find  him  a  law  student  with  Tappan  Reeve, 
now  the  proud  husband  of  pretty  Sallie  Burr,  and  principal  of  a  law 
school  at  Litchfield,  Conn.,  which  had  already  become  famous.  For  a 
few  months  only  Burr  pored  over  his  musty  law-books,  then  the  guns  of 
Lexington  summoned  him  to  arms  with  thousands  of  other  gallant  spirits, 
and  buckling  on  his  sword  he  set  off  without  delay  to  join  the  army  at 
Boston. 

It  was  in  July,  1775,  that  Burr  and  his  friend  Ogden — afterward 
Colonel — joined  the  Continental  army,  and  it  was  in  August  of  the  same 
year  that  after  five  weeks  of  inaction,  he  rose  from  a  sick  bed  to  volun 
teer  in  Colonel  Benedict  Arnold's  expedition  then  preparing  for  its  famous 
march  through  the  wilderness  of  Maine  to  strike  Quebec  and  Canada. 
He  armed  and  equipped  a  company  at  his  own  expense,  and  taking 


4  THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

command,  with  the  rank  of  Captain,  marched  them  to  Newburyport  where 
the  little  army  was  to  rendezvous. 

On  Tuesday,  the  ipth  of  September,  at  ten  in  the  morning,  the  ex 
pedition,  1,100  strong,  embarked  and  stood  away  for  the  mouth  of  the 
Kennebec,  which  they  reached  on  the  23d.  From  that  point  they  were 
to  follow  the  Kennebec  to  Dead  River,  up  that  stream  to  its  source  near 
Bald  Mountain,  then  over  a  portage  of  a  few  miles  to  Lake  Megantic, 
the  source  of  the  Chaudiere,  which  would  lead  to  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
Quebec.  This  journey  was  to  be  performed  through  an  unbroken  wilder 
ness  600  miles  in  extent.  On  the  4th  of  October  the  army  took  leave  of 
houses  and  settlements,  and  plunged  into  this  wilderness;  twenty-seven 
days  after,  on  the  3ist  of  October,  they  reached  the  settlements  on  the 
Chaudiere  River.  These  were  days  of  the  severest  privation;  thirty 
times  or  more  the  boats  were  unloaded  and  borne  across  portages,  miles 
in  length,  or  hauled  by  main  strength  around  rapids  and  falls.  Once  a 
sudden  flood  destroyed  half  the  boats  and  provisions,  and  starvation 
threatened  the  troops.  For  days  they  lived  upon  dogs  and  reptiles,  they 
even  ate  the  leather  of  their  shoes  and  cartridge-boxes,  and  everything 
that  could  afford  nourishment.  Many  sickened,  others  deserted,  and 
when  at  last  they  approached  the  settlements  it  was  found  that  sickness, 
death,  and  desertion  had  reduced  their  numbers  to  barely  600  effective 
men. 

Through  it  all  our  young  soldier  displayed  the  courage  and  endurance 
of  a  veteran.  He  animated  the  men  with  his  sprightliness  and  wit,  or  he 
led  hunting  parties  in  quest  of  game;  or  in  the  van  of  his  division  steered 
the  foremost  boat  in  its  descent  of  the  turbulent  river.  In  all  positions 
he  proved  himself  a  worthy  member  of  the  gallant  six  hundred  who 
marched  with  Arnold  through  the  wilderness,  and  came  out  strong  in 
life  and  limb  before  Quebec.  As  the  force  approached  the  latter  place, 
a  messenger  was  needed  to  communicate  with  Montgomery,  then  at  Mon 
treal,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  distant.  No  one  volunteered  for 
^this  perilous  enterprise,  until  at  last  "  little  Burr  "  stepped  out.  Arnold, 
running  his  eye  over  the  stripling,  demurred  to  sending  such  a  youth, 
but  Burr  persisted,  and  at  length  the  commission  was  given  him. 


THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR.  5 

Fertile  of  expedient,  he  had  already  devised  a  plan  for  executing  his 
mission.  Knowing  that  the  religious  chiefs  of  the  country  were  opposed 
to  British  rule,  he  donned  the  garb  of  a  young  priest,  and  sought  an  in 
terview  with  the  chief  of  a  religious  house  near  by,  and  to  him,  after  a 
few  preliminaries,  frankly  unfolded  his  plan;  this,  the  worthy  prelate, 
after  his  astonishment  had  passed,  heartily  seconded,  and  Burr  was 
passed  quickly  and  safely  from  one  religious  house  to  another,  in  the 
disguise  of  a  priest,  until  he  reached  Montgomery,  who  was  so  delighted 
with  his  address  and  gallantry  that  he  made  him  his  aide-de-camp  on  the 
spot,  with  the  rank  of  captain. 

Twenty-four  hours  after,  Montgomery,  with  his  three  hundred  avail 
able  men,  was  on  the  march  to  join  Arnold  at  Quebec.  They  arrived 
there  December  i,  1775.  The  succeeding  thirty  days,  history  has  made 
immortal.  There  was,  first,  the  council  of  war  which  decided  on  the 
assault,  and  which  gave  to  Burr  the  command  of  a  forlorn  hope  of  forty 
men,  whom  he  was  to  select  and  drill  in  the  use  of  scaling  ladders,  ropes, 
grapnels,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  the  assault.  After  the  council  came 
the  long  waiting  for  the  midnight  storm,  which  burst  upon  them  at  last 
on  the  3ist  of  December.  At  five  in  the  morning  the  order  to  assault 
was  given,  the  air  then  being  so  thick  with  snow  that  everything  was 
hidden :  nine  hundred  men  answered  to  the  roll  call.  These  were  divided 
into  four  parties,  two  for  the  attack  and  two  to  distract  the  enemy's  atten 
tion  by  feints  at  various  points. 

Arnold  led  one  of  the  attacking  parties  and  Montgomery  the  other. 
Side  by  side  with  his  general  that  morning  marched  Captain  Burr;  beside 
them  were  two  other  aids,  a  sergeant,  and  the  French  guide,  these  six 
constituting  the  group  in  advance.  The  column  swept  swiftly  and  silently 
along  the  St.  Lawrence  toward  the  defences  under  Cape  Diamond,  and 
in  a  few  moments  struck  the  first  of  these — a  line  of  pickets  firmly  fastened 
in  the  ground.  These  were  wrenched  away  in  an  instant,  and  the 
column  rushed  on  to  a  second  line.  Here  it  was  discovered  by  the  Brit 
ish  guard,  who  fired  an  ineffectual  volley  and  fled  in  dismay  to  a  block 
house,  a  few  yards  in  the  rear.  This  latter  was  quite  a  fortress,  built  of 
ponderous  logs,  loop-holed  above  for  musketry,  and  pierced  below  for 


6  THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

two  twelve-pounders,  which,  charged  with  grape  and  canister,  com 
manded  the  gorge  up  which  the  party  was  now  advancing.  The  garrison, 
wild  with  fear,  fled  precipitately  without  firing  a  shot.  Thus  the  gate  to 
the  city  was  thrown  wide  open,  but  the  besiegers  failed  to  appear  in  the 
breach ;  they  were  some  yards  below,  struggling  with  the  huge  blocks  of 
ice  which  a  winter  flood  in  the  St.  Lawrence  had  left  m  their  path. 

At  this  critical  juncture  one  of  the  fugitives  ventured  back  to  the 
blockhouse;  peeping  through  one  of  the  port-holes,  he  saw  the  attacking 
column  a  few  yards  off,  and  turned  to  fly  again,  but  as  he  did  so,  touched 
a  match  to  one  of  those  loaded  cannon.  That  simple  act  saved  Quebec. 
Montgomery,  the  two  aids,  the  sergeant,  every  man  that  marched  in  front 
of  the  column,  except  Burr  and  the  guide,  were  stricken  down  by  the 
discharge,  and  in  a  moment  the  fortunes  of  the  day  were  changed,  and 
the  victory  which  seemed  in  the  grasp  of  the  provincials  was  turned  into 
defeat.  "  At  this  critical  moment  Burr  was  as  cool,  as  determined,  as 
eager  to  go  forward  as  at  the  most  exultant  moment  of  the  advance." 

"When  dismay  and  consternation  universally  prevailed,"  testified 
Captain  Platt,  an  eye-witness  of  the  scene,  "  Burr  animated  the  troops 
and  made  many  efforts  to  lead  them  on,  and  stimulated  them  to  enter  the 
lower  town."  But  the  enemy  reappeared  in  force  at  the  blockhouse,  and 
the  commanding  officer  ordered  a  retreat,  by  this  act  giving  Captain  Burr 
an  opportunity  to  perform  an  action  that  redeems  humanity  and  proved 
him  the  impulsive,  generous  being  that  his  friends  knew  him  to  have  been. 
As  the  deed  itself  has  been  called  in  question,  I  give  an  account  of  it  in 
the  words  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Spring,  chaplain  in  Arnold's  expedition, 
and  who  was  present  at  the  assault.  After  describing  the  attack,  he 
says:  "  It  was  a  heavy  snow-storm,  Montgomery  had  fallen,  the  British 
troops  were  advancing  towards  the  dead  body,  and  little  Burr  was  hasten 
ing  from  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  up  to  his  knees  in  snow,  with  Montgomery's 
body  on  his  shoulders.  Some  forty  yards  he  staggered  on  under  his 
burden,  and  was  then  obliged  to  drop  it  to  avoid  capture  by  the  enemy." 

But  when  night  fell  Burr  stole  back  and  bore  away  the  body  of  his 
hero.  "  That  night,"  continues  Spring,  "  (it  was  moonlight  and  the  snow 
lay  thick  upon  the  ground),  the  Captain  stole  from  camp,  and  passing 


THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR.  J 

our  pickets,  he  approached  the  battlefield  and  commenced  crawling  and 
running  among  the  dead,  whenever  the  moon  was  partially  obscured  by 
clouds,  all  the  time  keeping  up  a  strict  search,  till  he  found  the  body  of 
Montgomery,  which  he  placed  upon  his  back,  and  the  beardless  boy 
staggering  under  his  heavy  load  succeeded  at  last  in  bringing  the  body 
of  his  General  to  our  camp.  He  appeared  to  me  like  some  guardian 
angel  of  the  dead  and  I  can  never  forget  him." 

Captain  Burr  remained  with  Arnold's  command  until  May  and  then 
resigned  and  set  out  for  New  York  via  Albany.  He  arrived  safely,  and, 
the  fame  of  his  exploits  having  preceded  him,  he  was  offered  by  Washing 
ton  a  place  on  his  staff,  where  he  was  serving  on  being  introduced  to  the 
reader. 

Captain  Burr  had  already  won  his  spurs.  As  for  Hamilton's  they  were 
as  yet  in  the  future. 

But  Burr  did  not  long  remain  on  Washington's  staff.     He  was  essen 
tially  a  man  of  action,  and  the  purely  clerical  duties  that  now  fell  to  his 
lot  wearied  him.     This,  however,  was  not  all.     Washington,  long  wor 
shipped  as  a  demigod,  we  now  know  to  have  been  a  man  of  like  passions** 
with   ourselves,  who   required   from   his   subordinates   an   adulation,  a  j 
sycophancy  that  Burr's  proud  spirit  would  not  submit  to.     He  resigned.  * 
Hamilton,  who  could  bear  a  great  deal  when  his  advancement  was  at 
stake,  succeeded  Burr  and  after  enduring  it  for  several  months  also  re 
signed  and  for  the  same  reason.     The  influence  of  his  cousin,  Thaddeus 
Burr  of  Fairfield,  exerted  through  the  latter' s  intimate  friend,  Governor 
Hancock,  gained  Burr  the  appointment  of  aid  to  General  Putnam,  who 
was  then  busily  engaged  in  fortifying  the  city,  and  in  the  military  family 
of  that  rough  and  ready  old  Indian  fighter  he  was  contented  and  happy. 

But  Washington  never  forgave  nor  forgot  the  defection.     Here  was 
the  first  cause  of  that  invincible  distrust  of  Burr  which  that  great  man  * 
bore   through   life,   although  it  was  secretly  and  artfully  fomented  by 
Hamilton. 

It  was  here,  while  the  army  lay  in  New  York,  that  Burr  and  Hamilton 
first  met,  and  here  began  that  unfriendliness  which  culminated  twenty- 
eight  years  later  in  the  action  on  the  fatal  shelf  at  Weehawken.  Rivalry 


8  THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

for  the  favor  of  fair  women  in  which  Burr  was  always  victorious  first  in-, 
spired  in  Hamilton's  breast  that  settled  hatred  which  was  later  intensified 
by  rivalry  at  the  bar  and  in  public  life.  This  fact,  that  it  was  personal 
bias  and  not  solicitude  for  the  public  weal  that  led  Hamilton  constantly 
to  slander,  oppose,  and  thwart  Burr  in  their  subsequent  career,  cannot 
be  too  strongly  insisted  upon.  It  furnishes  the  key  to  the  whole  situa 
tion  :  it  puts  an  entirely  different  construction  on  the  acts  of  both. 

In  August  occurred  the  disastrous  battle  of  Long  Island,  with  the  re 
sult  that  might  have  been  foreseen,  and  the  famous  retreat  of  Washing 
ton's  army  to  Manhattan  Island. 

In  this  retreat  Captain  Burr  was  again  the  hero  of  an  action  which 
won  him  almost  universal  applause.  He  had  been  scouting  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  island,  and  was  flying  in  full  gallop  before  the  enemy,  when 
he  came  upon  an  American  brigade,  sheltered  in  a  mud  fort,  which  stood 
on  or  about  the  present  line  of  Grand  Street.  "What  are  you  doing 
here?"  Burr  demanded.  General  Knox,  the  commander,  explained 
that  he  had  been  left  behind  by  mistake,  and,  deeming  himself  sur 
rounded,  he  had  determined  to  hold  the  fort.  Burr  ridiculed  the  idea, 
and,  addressing  the  men,  told  them  if  they  remained  there  they  would 
surely  be  in  the  British  prison  ships  before  morning.  He  then  led  them 
by  blind  and  circuitous  paths  to  the  Hudson,  and  safely  rejoined  the 
main  army,  with  the  loss  of  but  a  few  stragglers.  These  men  ever  after 
regarded  him  as  their  deliverer  from  the  British  prison  ships,  and  the 
whole  army  rang  with  his  praises,  yet  his  name  was  not  even  men- 
*  tioned  in  the  dispatches  of  the  commander-in-chief.  In  1777,  Captain 
Burr  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel.  His  superior 
officer,  Colonel  Malcolm,  was  a  New  York  merchant  of  no  military  abil 
ity,  and  the  actual  command  of  the  regiment  devolved  upon  Burr.  This 
responsibility  he  cheerfully  assumed,  and  in  a  few  months  brought  his 
men — all  raw  levies — into  the  most  perfect  state  of  discipline. 

Through  the  fall  of  this  year  his  regiment  was  detailed  for  scouting 
duty  in  New  Jersey,  then  the  debatable  ground  between  the  two  armies. 
Here  he  first  met  Mrs.  Prevost,  then  residing  at  Paramus,  who  after 
ward  became  his  wife. 


THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR.  $ 

In  November  he  joined  the  main  army  for  the  winter  cantonment  at 
Valley  Forge,  and  through  the  winter  was  in  command  of  a  very  import 
ant  post  called  "  the  Gulf,"  some  ten  miles  distant  from  the  main  body, 
and  which  would  be  the  point  first  attacked  should  the  enemy  make  a 
descent  on  the  camp.  He  owed  this  appointment,  it  is  said,  to  General 
McDougall,  who  had  been  his  superior  officer  at  the  battle  of  Long 
Island.  He  next  saw  active  service  at  the  famous  battle  of  Monmouth, 
June  28  and  30,  1778.  Here  he  commanded  a  brigade  in  Lord  Sterling's 
division,  and  fully  sustained  that  reputation  for  address  and  gallantry 
which  he  had  before  earned.  After  the  battle,  almost  worn  out  with 
fatigue  and  exposure,  he  was  sent  to  New  York  with  orders  to  watch  the 
enemy's  movements  in  that  quarter  and  report,  which  task  he  performed 
with  the  utmost  spirit  and  success.  Returned  from  this  duty,  he  was 
ordered  to  march  at  once  with  his  regiment  to  West  Point;  the  regiment, 
however,  went  forward  without  him,  he  being  detailed,  on  the  eve  of  de 
parture,  for  the  delicate  service  of  conducting  several  influential  Tories 
within  the  British  lines.  A  few  weeks  later  he  reported  at  West  Point, 
but  finding  himself  completely  broken  in  health,  he  wrote  to  Washington 
asking  leave  of  absence  without  pay,  until  the  next  campaign,  and  urging 
as  a  reason  his  utter  unfitness  for  military  duty.  Washington  granted  him 
leave  of  absence,  but  continued  his  pay.  This,  however,  Burr  utterly 
refused  to  accept,  and  the  matter  was  compromised  by  his  being  placed 
in  command  of  West  Point,  where  he  remained  until  his  health  was  in  a 
measure  regained.  He  was  now  twenty-three  years  of  age. 

About  the  ist  of  January,  1779,  Colonel  Burr  received  his  last  and 
most  important  command,  being  placed  in  charge  of  the  Westchester 
"lines,"  extending  from  the  Hudson  to  the  Sound,  a  distance  of  fourteen 
miles,  traversing  a  section  the  most  lawless  and  turbulent  in  the  country, 
and  which  former  commanders  had  utterly  failed  to  control ;  here  Whigs 
plundered  Tories,  and  Tories  harried  Whigs  with  the  utmost  impartiality, 
and  both  parties  combined  to  plunder  the  peaceful  Quakers,  who  formed 
by  far  the  largest  portion  of  the  population.  To  check  these  marauders, 
Burr  proclaimed  martial  law,  and  proceeded  to  punish  all  offenders  with 
the  utmost  rigor.  His  energy  was  untiring,  and  his  vigilance  argus-eyed. 


10  THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

To  protect  his  posts,  he  prescribed  for  himself  and  his  subordinates  a 
course  of  the  extremest  vigilance,  and  visited  with  the  severest  penalties 
any  departure  from  it.  Next  he  prepared  a  list  of  the  inhabitants  of  his 
district,  and  divided  them  into  their  several  classes,  such  as  Whigs,  Tories, 
half-Whigs,  spies,  and  others  ;  and  further  prepared  an  accurate  map  of 
the  country,  showing  the  roads,  creeks,  swamps,  woods,  and  other  avenues 
of  escape  for  parties  flying  from  pursuit.  To  these  safeguards  he  added 
a  perfect  system  of  scouts  and  espionage,  and  so  managed  all  that  order 
and  quiet  was  restored  to  the  whole  region  covered  by  his  force. 

If,  during  this  winter  he  showed  himself  gallant  in  war,  he  also  proved 
himself  no  laggard  in  love,  for  twice  during  the  period  he  contrived  to 
,. visit  Mrs.  Prevost,  at  Paramus,  thirty  miles  distant,  on  both  occasions  at 
night,  and  with  such  secrecy  that  his  absence  from  camp  was  not  sus 
pected.  But  the  labors  of  this  command  proved  to  be  too  exhaustive  a 
drain  on  a  once  splendid,  but  now  enfeebled  constitution  ;  and  on  the  loth 
of  March,  1779,  he  was  forced  to  send  in  his  commission  to  General 
Washington,  stating  the  circumstances  of  his  case,  and  asking  a  discharge. 
In  reply,  Washington  wrote  a  letter  accepting  his  resignation,  and  regret 
ting  "  not  only'the  loss  of  a  good  officer,  but  the  causes  which  made  it 
necessary."  Thus,  after  four  years  of  active  military  life,  Colonel  Burr 
became  again  a  private  citizen.  Eighteen  months  were  spent  in  recruit 
ing  his  shattered  health.  Then  he  resumed  the  legal  studies  which  four 
years  before  he  had  laid  down  at  the  call  of  his  country.  His  first  tutor 
was  Judge  Patterson,  of  New  Jersey  ;  but  not  satisfied  with  his  progress 
under  him  he  removed,  in  the  spring  of  1781,  to  Haverstraw,  N.  Y.,  and 
took  up  his  abode  with  Mr.  Thomas  Smith,  a  lawyer  of  note,  formerly  of 
New  York,  but  now  thrown  out  of  business  by  the  British  occupation  of 
that  city.  Here  Burr  pursued  his  studies  with  the  utmost  dispatch,  living 
abstemiously,  and  poring  over  his  books  twenty  hours  out  of  the  twenty- 
four.  There  were  several  reasons  for  this  intense  application.  His 
splendid  patrimony  was  all  gone,  spent  largely  with  that  inconsiderate 
generosity  which  was  his  bane,  to  feed,  clothe,  and  arm  the  destitute 
soldiers  of  his  command  ;  and  his  purse  needed  replenishing.  Again,  the 
success  of  the  American  cause,  then  well  assured,  would  give  to  the  Whig 


THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR.  II 

lawyers  all  the  business  and  emoluments  of  the  profession.  Lastly,  he 
contemplated  marriage,  and  only  a  lucrative  practice  stood  in  the  way  of 
home  comforts  and  domestic  happiness.  After  reading  law  twelve  months 
this  man  of  wonderful  gifts  thought  himself  competent  to  practice,  and 
applied  for  admission  to  the  bar  ;  but  to  his  dismay  he  was  confronted 
with  a  rule  of  the  court  which  required  candidates  to  spend  at  least  three 
years  in  the  study  of  the  law.  He  could  boast  of  but  one  ;  nor  could  he 
find  a  lawyer  disinterested  enough  to  move  a  suspension  of  the  rule.  He 
therefore  appeared  in  court  and  himself  offered  and  argued  the  motion, 
reminding  the  court  that  but  for  his  services  in  the  field  he  would  long 
before  have  completed  his  studies,  and  that  in  his  case  at  least  there  were 
weighty  reasons  for  the  suspension  of  the  rule.  The  judge,  after  hearing 
his  plea,  decided  that  the  rule  might  in  his  case  be  dispensed  with,  pro 
vided  he  could  show  that  he  possessed  the  requisite  qualifications  ;  and  a 
most  rigorous  examination  having  proved  his  fitness,  he  was  licensed  an 
attorney  on  the  ipth  of  January,  1782. 

The  young  lawyer  at  once  opened  an  office  in  Albany,  and  began  the 
practice  of  the  law,  and  was  so  successful  that  in  three  months  he  thought 
it  prudent  to  marry.  The  wedding  accordingly  took  place  July  2,  1782, 
in  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  at  Paramus,  the  Rev.  David  Bogart, 
pastor  of  the  church,  performing  the  ceremony.  This  marriage  certainly 
gives  no  color  to  the  popular  belief  that  Colonel  Burr  was  a  cold,  selfish, 
unprincipled  schemer,  with  an  eye  always  open  to  the  main  chance.  He 
was  young,  handsome,  well  born,  a  rising  man  in  his  profession,  and  might 
no  doubt  have  formed  an  alliance  with  anyone  of  the  wealthy  and  power 
ful  families  that  lent  lustre  to  the  annals  of  their  State.  This  would  have 
been  the  course  of  a  politician.  But  Burr,  disdaining  these  advantages 
married  the  widow  of  a  British  officer,  the  most  unpopular  thing  in  the1 
then  state  of  public  feeling  that  a  man  could  do,*  a  lady  without  wealth, 

*  She  was  however  American  born.  By  none  of  Burr's  biographers  nor  in  any  of  the 
numerous  magazine  accounts  is  the  maiden  name  and  parentage  of  this  estimable  lady 
given.  She  was  Theodosia  Bartow,  only  child  of  Theodosius  Bartow,  a  lawyer  of  Shrews 
bury,  N.  J.,  and  of  Ann  (Stillwell)  Bartow  his  wife.  She  was  married  to  Colonel  Mark 
Prevost  July  28,  1763,  in  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  according  to  the  marriage  register 


12  THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

position,  or  beauty,  and  at  least  ten  years  his  senior,  simply  because  he 
loved  her  ;  and  he  loved  her,  it  is  well  to  note,  because  she  had  the  truest 
heart,  the  ripest  intellect,  and  the  most  winning  and  graceful  manners  of 
any  woman  he  had  ever  met.  It  was  a  favorite  remark  of  his,  in  later  years, 
that  if  jie  was  more  easy  and  graceful  in  manner  than  other  men,  it  was 
from  the  unconscious  influence  of  her  spirit  and  graces  upon  him. 

I  think  it  should  be  mentioned  here — because  the  opposite  has  been 
stated — that  the  marriage  was  conducive  of  great  happiness  to  both,  and 
that  Colonel  Burr  was  to  the  end  the  most  faithful  and  devoted  of  hus 
bands.  The  young  couple  at  once  began  housekeeping  in  a  pleasant 
mansion  in  the  city  of  Albany,  and  there  they  continued  to  reside  (re 
ceiving  in  the  first  year  of  their  marriage  a  lovely  daughter,  Theodosia, 
to  their  home),  until,  in  the  fall  of  1784  Burr's  increasing  law  business  in 
New  York  necessitated  his  removal  to  that  city.  In  New  York  he  took 
a  front  rank  among  the  leaders  of  the  bar,  and  his  reputation  overwhelmed 
him  with  business  ;  by  many  he  was  regarded  as  superior  even  to  Hamilton. 

He  was  the  most  successful  lawyer  that  ever  plead,  and  it  is  said  never 
lost  a  case  in  which  he  was  alone  engaged.  Yet  the  general  verdict  is  that 
he  was  not  a  great  lawyer.  Perhaps  not.  He  certainly  never  affected 
greatness.  A  soldier  by  nature  and  profession,  he  regarded  the  end 
jfrom  the  beginning  and  carried  his  soldierly  tactics  into  the  courts  ;  he 
*  always  used  the  means  best  calculated  to  gain  his  ends.  If  learning  and 
eloquence  were  necessary,  he  could  be  both  learned  and  eloquent.  If 
appeal,  argument,  sarcasm,  invective  promised  to  be  more  effective,  he 
used  them,  or  he  would  win  by  showing  the  weak  points  of  his  adversary's 
case  rather  than  the  strong  points  of  his  own.  He  was  careful  to  go  into 
action  thoroughly  furnished  ;  his  weapons  were  always  at  command,  and 
his  armor  without  flaw  ;  like  most  lawyers,  he  at  times  skirmished  pretty 
close  to  the  citadel  of  truth,  but  it  cannot  be  proved  that  he  ever  resorted 
to  dishonorable  means  to  gain  an  end,  while  it  must  be  said  in  his  praise, 
that  he  was  keenly  alive  to  the  interests  of  his  clients,  and  was  never 
known  to  betray  a  professional  trust.  His  legal  practice  covered  a  period 

of  that  church.  Colonel  Prevost  was  brother  of  the  General  Prevost  of  Savannah,  Ga., 
fame,  and  died  in  the  West  Indies  in  1779. 


THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR.  13 

of  nearly  sixty  years — one  of  the  longest  on  record,  and  many  of  his  cases 
and  opinions,  notably  the  Medcef  Eden  case,  and  the  opinion  on  the  con 
tested  election  in  New  York,  in  1792,  attracted  national  attention.  One 
thing  which  I  have  observed  in  regard  to  Colonel  Burr  is,  that  as  a 
lawyer  he  is  held  by  the  New  York  bar  in  the  greatest  respect,  and  his  in 
fluence  for  good,  both  in  shaping  laws  and  promoting  justice,  is  freely 
admitted. 

I  His  first  appearance  in  politics  was  in  1784,  when  he  was  elected  to  a 
seat  in  the  New  York  Assembly.  He  filled  the  same  position  in  1785. 
In  1789,  Governor  Clinton  appointed  him  Attorney-General  of  New  York. 
In  March,  1790,  the  Legislature  named  him  one  of  the  three  commission 
ers,  appointed  to  decide  and  classify  the  claims  of  individuals  who  had 
rendered  services,  or  sustained  losses  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  The 
next  year  he  was  placed  on  a  commission  with  the  Governor,  Secretary, 
Treasurer,  and  Auditor,  to  sell  the  waste  and  unclaimed  lands,  of  the 
State,  the  proceeds  to  be  applied  to  liquidating  its  war  debt  and  claims, 
The  ability  with  which  he  performed  the  duties  of  these  positions,  was  the 
main  cause  of  his  subsequent  marvellous  political  advancement.  In  Jan 
uary,  1791,  seven  years  after  his  entrance  upon  public  life,  he  was  elected 
to  represent  the  State  of  New  York  in  the  National  Senate,  and  on  the 
24th  of  October — the  first  day  of  the  session — he  took  his  seat  as  a  mem 
ber  of  that  body.  The  day  after,  he  received  a  very  flattering  recogni 
tion,  being  appointed  chairman  of  the  committee  to  draft  the  Senate's 
reply  to  the  President's  annual  address. 

Of  Colonel  Burr's  course  in  the  Senate,  we  have  only  the  most  meagre 
details.  That  body,  patterned  after  the  English  House  of  Lords,  then 
sat  with  closed  doors,  and  little  more  than  the  record  of  votes  was  given 
to  the  public.  We  know,  however,  that  he  served  the  full  term  of  six 
years,  that  he  acted  generally  with  the  liberal  party,  that  he  was  the  ac 
knowledged  leader  and  champion  of  that  side  of  the  House,  that  he  advo 
cated,  among  other  important  measures,  an  open  session  of  the  Senate, 
| lower  rates  of  postage,  substantial  aid  to  the  French  people  in  their 
j  struggle  for  liberty,  and  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery.  He  also  gained 
ja  great  reputation  as  an  orator,  although  no  utterance  of  his  now  exists. 


14  THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

A  great  speech  delivered  by  Colonel  Burr  against  the  ratification  of  Jay's 
treaty  with  Great  Britain,  in  1795,  is  mentioned  by  the  newspapers  of  that 
day,  but  no  report  of  it  is  given. 

In  1791,  Governor  Clinton  nominated  him  to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  his  State,  but  he  declined  the  honor,  preferring  his  seat  in  the 
Senate.  As  the  election,  in  April,  1792,  of  a  Governor  for  the  State  of 
New  York  drew  near,  Colonel  Burr  was  frequently  mentioned  as  a  can- 
f  didate  but  Hamilton's  adverse  influence  prevented  his  nomination.  In 
November,  1792,  the  young  nation  was  to  elect  for  the  second  time  a 
President  and  Vice-President.  Washington,  it  was  well  known,  would  fill 
the  first  office  ;  as  to  the  incumbent  of  the  second,  some  uncertainty  ex 
isted.  John  Adams  was  the  candidate  of  the  Federal  party  ;  in  the  lib 
eral,  the  choice  lay  between  George  Clinton  and  Aaron  Burr,  but  Burr's 
claims  were  in  the  end  set  aside,  and  Clinton  was  nominated. 

In  the  succeeding  presidential  election,  however,  our  hero  came  more 
prominently  before  the  country,  as  a  candidate  for  this  high  office.  In 
that  canvass,  John  Adams  received  71  votes,  Thomas  Jefferson  68,  Thomas 
Pinckney  59,  and  Aaron  Burr  30.  About  this  time,  and  while  he  was  in 
the  Senate,  he  sustained  an  irreparable  loss  in  the  death  of  his  wife,  from 
cancer,  after  a  long  and  painful  illness.  How  much  Colonel  Burr's 
subsequent  misfortunes  were  due  to  the  loss  of  this  estimable  lady,  can 
not  be  determined,  but  it  is  certain  that,  had  she  lived,  his  career  would 
*have  had  a  very  different  ending.  .She  died  in  the  spring  of  1794.  On 
the  4th  of  March,  1797,  Colonel  Burr's  term  in  the  Senate  expired,  and  he 
was  succeeded  by  Gen.  Philip  Schuyler,  the  Federal  party  being  then  in 
the  ascendant  in  New  York. 

Burr  returned  to  his  law  business  in  the  metropolis,  without  however 
losing  his  hold  on  national  politics.  On  the  contrary,  he  had  formed  the 
4" design  of  destroying  at  a  blow  Federal  supremacy  in  the  United  States. 
For  two  years  he  worked  in  silence,  then  in  April,  1800,  the  time  came 
for  him  to  show  his  hand.  The  fourth  presidential  election  was  but  six 
months  distant,  and  the  rival  parties  were  already  in  the  field.  They 
were  two  —  the  Federal,  a  party  of  old  renown,  strong  in  the  prestige  of 
victory,  conservative,  arrogant,  English  in  everything  but  in  name,  and 


THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR.  1$ 

clinging  tenaciously  to  class  privileges  and  class  domination.  Its  great 
rival,  the  Republican  party,  was  liberal  and  progressive  in  the  extreme. 
It  was  the  popular  party,  par  excellence,  and  as  much  French  as  the  other 
was  English.  It  advocated  an  open  Senate,  a  free  press,  free  speech,  free 
schools,  and  free  religion.  Its  leading  principle  was  that  so  pithily  ex 
pressed  by  Mr.  Seward,  "  the  emancipation  of  the  masses  from  the  domi 
nation  of  classes." 

Of  this  party  Thomas  Jefferson  was  the  nominal  leader,  the  historical 
figure-head,  but  its  real  imperator  was  Aaron  Burr,  the  man  who,  in  the 
cBBRct  which  we  are  now  to  consider,  taught  it  how  to  win.     In  those 
days  the  Legislature  of  each  State  cast  the  vote  of  its  State  for  President. 
It  early  became  apparent  that  New  York  would  decide  the  presidential 
contest.     It  was  also  apparent,  that  if  the  Republicans  could  secure  the  \ 
New  York  Legislature  (to  be  chosen  in  April,  1800)  the  national  issue  \   ' 
was  already  decided,  and  to  attain  this  object  Burr  had  planned  and  toiled 
during  the  two  previous  years,  and  now  redoubled  his  exertions. 

It  was  a  mistake  of  Hamilton's  that  made  his  great  rival's  triumph 
possible.  That  chieftain,  strong  in  Federal  supremacy,  gathered  his 
friends  together  a  few  weeks  before  the  election,  and  made  out  a  list  of 
his  candidates  from  the  city  for  assemblymen.  They  were  all  his  personal 
friends,  and  men  of  but  little  weight  in  the  community.  Burr,  when  the 
slate  was  brought  to  him,  perceived  at  once  his  adversary's  great  mistake, 
and  proceeded  to  profit  by  it.  He  immediately  sat  down  and  prepared 
his  list  of  candidates.  At  its  head  he  placed  George  Clinton,  so  long 
Governor  of  the  State.  Then  came  General  Gates,  Brockholst  Living 
ston,  and  other  names  of  national  reputation.  The  next  and  more  difficult 
step  was  to  persuade  these  gentlemen  to  allow  their  names  to  be  used,  but 
by  bringing  his  matchless  powers  of  persuasion  to  bear,  he  succeeded  in 
this  also.  Then  a  public  meeting  was  held  and  the  ticket  ratified  with 
immense  enthusiasm. 

Simultaneously  Burr  began  organizing  his  cohorts  for  the  campaign. 
The  strictest  discipline  was  ordered  and  enforced.      "  Every  member  was  } 
obliged  to  submit  to  the  will  of  the  majority,"  and  "that  majority  was 
made  to  move  at  the  beck  of  committees,  which  concentrated  the  power 


l6  THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

in  the  hands  of  a  few  individuals."  Ward  and  general  meetings  were  held 
almost  daily.  Complete  lists  of  all  voters  were  made  out  with  the  politi 
cal  history  and  affiliations  of  each  ;  pamphlets  and  political  speeches  were 
disseminated,  and  no  means  left  untried  that  might  lead  to  success.  The 
polls  opened  April  2oth,  and  closed  May  2d,  at  sunset,  and  before  the  city 
had  sunk  to  rest  it  was  known  that  the  Republican  cause  had  won  in  the 
city  by  a  majority  of  490  votes.  This  decided  the  election  throughout 
the  State.  Hamilton  seems  to  have  been  nearly  frantic  over  his  d£fj£at, 
or  he  never  would  have  adopted  the  mean  expedient  which  he  d] 
wrest  from  his  opponents  the  fruits  of  their  hard-won  victory.  He  atj 
called  a  caucus  of  his  party,  and  with  its  concurrence,  wrote  to  Governor 
Jay,  urging  him  to  call  an  extra  session  of  the  old  Legislature,  which  was 
still  in  existence,  that  it  might  take  the  power  of  choosing  presidential 
electors  from  the  Legislature  and  give  it  to  the  people,  thus  leaving  the 
whole  case  to  be  decided  again  by  ballot.  This  letter  was  sent,  and  the 
next  day  a  complete  expost  of  the  whole  plan,  with  an  account  of  the  cau 
cus,  and  the  contents  of  the  letter  were  published  in  the  Republican  jour 
nals,  to  the  no  small  astonishment  of  the  "caucus,"  which  had  concocted 
it.  Governor  Jay,  however,  refused  to  sanction  any  such  proceedings, 
and  the  scheme  proved  futile. 

A  few  days  after  the  New  York  election,  a  Republican  caucus  at 
Philadelphia  nominated  Thomas  Jefferson  for  President,  and  Aaron  Burr 
for  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  The  election  which  followed  in 
November  resulted  in  the  well-known  tie,*  Jefferson  having  73  votes, 
Burr  73,  Adams  65,  Pinckney  64,  and  made  a  choice  by  the  House  of 
Representatives  necessary.  Then  ensued  a  contest  such  as  had  never 
been  known  before  in  the  comparatively  peaceful  history  of  parties. 

The  politicians  were  painfully  active,  and  the  country  fairly  ablaze 
with  excitement.  The  main  interest  centred  of  course  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  at  Washington  which  was  to  decide,  and  in  the  rival 
chiefs,  who  remained  at  their  posts,  Jefferson  at  Washington,  where  he 
was  Vice-President  and  President  of  the  Senate,  and  Burr  at  Albany, 
quietly  performing  his  duties  as  Assemblyman. 

*  At  that  time  the  candidate  who  received  the  greatest  number  of  votes  was  declared 
President. 


THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

"  Had  Aaron  Burr  not  aroused  prejudice  by  marrying  a  British 
he  would  have  been  elected  President  by  a  large  majority,"  was  the 
remark  of  a  prominent  State  official,  to  the  writer.  Perhaps  so  ;  smaller 
things  have  ere  this  changed  the  popular  vote,  and  the  gentleman  spoke 
with  authority,  his  father  having  been  the  fellow  aide-de-camp  and  intimate 

f  friend  of  Col.  Burr.  But  whether  this  be  true  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  at 
any  time  between  the  declaration  of  the  vote  and  the  House's  decision 
thereon,  the  merest  whisper  on  his  part,  the  lifting  of  a  finger  even,  would 
have  placed  him  in  the  seat  of  Washington  and  of  Adams.  The  Federal 
party  was  almost  a  unit  in  his  support.  Alike  from  his  antecedents  and 
his  political  record,  they  argued  that  his  ascendency  would  be  less  detri 
mental  to  Federalism  and  the  public  good  than  that  of  Jefferson.  In  a 
file  of  the  Connecticut  Courant  for  1801,  published  at  Hartford,  and  the 

^organ  of  the  Federal  party  in  New  England,  I  find  a  long  article  on  this 
"  crisis,"  which  forcibly  and  even  vehemently  urges  Burr's  claims.  "  Col. 
Burr,"  remarks  the  writer,  "  is  a  man  of  the  first  talents,  and  the  most 
virtuous  intentions."  "  A  man  who  resolves  while  others  deliberate,  and 
who  executes  while  others  resolve."  In  the  same  article  the  writer 
speaks  of  Jefferson  in  terms  much  less  complimentary.  But  Connecti 
cut  always  was  partial  to  Burr  ;  she  had  not  forgotten  the  services  of 
his  fathers.  Cabot  of  Massachusetts,  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  Secre 
tary  Wolcott  of  Connecticut,  and  many  others  openly  expressed  their 
preference. 

He  had.  a  strong  following  too  in  his  own  party.  Governor  Clinton 
him.  His  friends  in  New  York,  Swartwout,  Van  Ness,  and 
repeatedly  begged  permission  to  work  for  his  interests.  But  Burr, 
in  the  first  moments  of  the  contest,  seems  to  have  decided  to  act  accord 
ing  to  the  dictates  of  honor  and  probity.  He  knew  that  Jefferson  was 
the  choice  of  the  people,  and  on  December  i6th,  the  day  after  the  tie  was 
declared,  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  disclaiming  all  competition.  "  As  to  my 
frieljp,"  said  he,  "  they  would  dishonor  my  views,  and  insult  my  feelings 
by  a  suspicion  that  I  would  submit  to  be  instrumental  in  counteracting  the 
wishes  and  expectations  of  the  United  States."  That  he  maintained  this 
position  all  through  the  contest  is  shown  by  the  letters  of  his  contemporaries, 


1 8  THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

many  of  them  his  personal  and  political  enemies.  Thus,  February  i2th 
Judge  Cooper,  of  New  York,  father  of  the  novelist,  wrote  from  Washing, 
ton  (where  the  day  before  the  House  had  convened),  "  We  have  postponed 
voting  for  the  President  until  to-morrow.  All  stand  firm,  Jefferson  8, 
Burr  6,  divided  2.  Had  Burr  done  anything  for  himself  he  would  long  ere 
this  have  been  President" 

Also  Bayard  of  Delaware,  who  gave  the  casting  vote  for  Jefferson, 
wrote  to  Hamilton  soon  after  the  event,  giving  the  reasons  for  his  action, 
and  after  stating  certain  considerations  which  would  have  induced  him  to 
vote  for  Burr,  he  proceeds,  "  but  I  was  enabled  soon  to  perceive  that  he 
(Burr)  was  determined  not  to  shackle  himself  with  Federal  principles," 
and  further  on  in  the  same  letter  he  says,  "  The  means  existed  of  electing 
Burr,  but  this  required  his  cooperation  :  by  deceiving  one  man  (a  great 
blockhead)  and  tempting  two  (not  incorrupt)  he  might  have  secured  the 
majority  of  the  States."  Other  testimony  might  be  advanced  to  disprove 
the  charge  often  made,  that  during  this  contest  Colonel  Burr  intrigued  for 
the  Presidency.  The  result  disproves  it,  for  had  he  intrigued  at  all  he 
might  easily  have  won ;  as  it  was,  the  House,  after  seven  days  of  balloting 
and  debate,  by  a  majority  of  one  State,  declared  Thomas  Jefferson  Presi 
dent.  Aaron  Burr  receiving  the  next  highest  number  of  votes  became  of 
course  Vice-President.. 

For  the  next  four  years  we  behold  our  hero  at  the  summit  of  his 
power.  As  Vice-President,  he  was  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate,  and 
never  before,  it  is  said,  were  the  duties  of  that  position  performed  with 
such  grace,  dignity,  and  impartiality  ;  indeed  this  impartiality,  in  a  strictly 
partisan  contest,  in  the  Senate,  laid  him  open  to  the  censure  of  his  party, 
and  contributed  not  a  little  to  his  ultimate  political  downfall.  This  con 
test  occurred  during  the  session  of  1801,  over  the  repeal  of  a  Judiciary 
bill,  which  had  been  rushed  through  at  the  close  of  the  last  Congress,  and 
by  which  the  Federal  judges  had  been  increased  by  twenty-three.  These 
life  judgeships  Mr.  Adams,  in  the  last  hours  of  his  official  life,  had,  with 
most  indecent  haste,  filled,  and  by  this  action  so  exasperated  the  Repub 
licans,  that  they  determined  to  abolish  them  ;  hence  this  bill.  At  one 
stage  of  the  debate  upon  it,  the  Senate  was  tied,  and  it  became  the  duty 


THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR.  19 

of  the  president  to  give  the  casting  vote.  His  decision  was  against  the 
Republicans,  and  elicited  no  little  hostile  criticism  from  the  party  organs. 
At  a  later  period  he  gained  the  ill-will  of  the  Federalists  from  the  same 
cause.  Equally  conscientious  and  honorable  was  his  course  in  the  im 
peachment  trial  of  the  Federal  Judge  Chase,  charged  with  grossly 
abusing  the  authority  of  the  bench  in  certain  political  trials,  and  which 

^occurred  toward  the  close  of  the  session  of  1805.  Commenting  upon  his 
course  in  this  trial,  Mr.  Parton  says,  "  The  dignity,  the  grace,  the  fairness, 
the  prompt,  intelligent  decision  with  which  the  Vice-President  presided 
over  the  august  court,  extorted  praise  even  from  his  enemies."  "He- 
conducted  the  trial  with  the  dignity  and  impartiality  of  an  angel,  but  with 
the  rigor  of  a  devil,"  said  an  eye-witness.  We  shall  find  further  evidence 
as  we  proceed,  as  to  the  scrupulous  impartiality  with  which  he  performed 
the  duties  of  his  office. 

As  Vice-President,  Colonel  Burf/his  friends,  and  the  country,  expected 
that  he  would  succeed  Jefferson  in  the  Presidency.  In  this  manner 
Adams  had  succeeded  Washington,  and  Jefferson,  Adams.  That  he  did 
not  was  due  to  the  politicians,  and  not  to  his  own  acts,  nor  because  the 
people  had  lost  confidence  in  him>  The  election  of  1800  had  shown  his 
commanding  position  in  national  politics,  and  served  to  combine  against 
him  three  great  factions  of  the  Republican  party, — the  Virginian  faction 
led  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  the  Clinton  and  Livingston  families  of 
New  York.  These  united  their  forces  to  crush  him  as  an  interloper,  and 
at  the  Republican  Convention  in  1804  he  was  quietly  shelved  ;  his  name 
not  even  being  mentioned  in  connection  with  public  affairs.  Burr  attrib 
uted  this  defeat  to  the  politicians,  and  resolved  to  appeal  to  the  people. 
Accordingly  in  the  New  York  election  of  that  year,  he  was  announced 

J  as  an  independent  candidate  for  Governor.  The  Republican  party  nomi 
nated  Judge  Lewis  ;  the  Federal  party  made  no 'nominations.  Hamilton 
threw  the  weight  of  his  great  influence  in  favor  of  the  Republican  candi 
date  ;  Jefferson  did  the  same  with  the  federal  patronage,  but  despite 
these  fearful  odds,  Burr  polled  a  vote  of  28,000  against  his  adversary's 
35,000  ;  but  he  was  beaten.  This  was  his  last  political  battle  ;  one  more 
appearance  and  he  quitted  the  political  field  forever. 


2O  THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

This  event  was  his  taking  formal  leave  of  the  Senate  as  Vice-President 
which  occurred  March  2,  1805.  It  has  been  described  as  being  one  of 
the  most  interesting  and  affecting  ever  witnessed.  The  Senate  had  not 
then  opened  its  doors  to  the  public,  and  our  only  account  of  the  scene  is 
that  derived  from  a  report  in  the  Washington  Federalist,  "  obtained  from 
the  relation  of  several  Senators  as  well  Federal  as  Republican."  The 
report  opens  with  a  summary  of  the  speech,  which  was,  it  says,  "  the  most 
sublime,  dignified,  and  impressive  ever  uttered."  Its  concluding  senti 
ments  only  we  have  room  to  present  : 

"  But  I  now  challenge  your  attention  to  considerations  more  momen 
tous  than  any  which  regard  merely  your  personal  honor  and  character — 
the  preservation  of  law,  of  liberty,  and  the  constitution.  This  House,  I 
need  not  remind  you,  is  a  sanctuary ;  a  citadel  of  law,  of  order,  and  of 
liberty  ;  and  it  is  here — it  is  here,  in  this  exalted  refuge— here,  if  any 
where,  will  resistance  be  made  to  the  storms  of  political  frenzy,  and  the 
silent  arts  of  corruption ;  and  if  the  constitution  be  destined  ever  to 
perish  by  the  sacrilegious  hands  of  the  demagogue,  or  the  usurper,  which 
God  avert,  its  expiring  agonies  will  be  witnessed  on  this  floor.  I  must 
now  bid  you  farewell.  It  is  probably  a  final  separation,  a  dissolution, 
perhaps  forever,  of  those  associations,  which  I  hope  have  been  'mutually 
satisfactory.  I  would  console  myself,  and  you,  however,  with  the  reflec 
tion,  that  though  we  are  separated,  we  shall  be  engaged  in  the  common 
cause  of  disseminating  principles  of  freedom  and  social  order.  I  shall 
always  regard  the  proceedings  of  this  body  with  interest  and  solicitude. 
I  shall  feel  for  its  honor  and  for  the  national  honor  so  intimately  con 
nected  with  it,  and  now  take  my  leave  of  you  with  expressions  of  personal 
respect,  and  with  prayers  and  good  wishes." 

"At  the  conclusion  of  this  speech,"  proceeds  the  report,  "the  whole 
Senate  were  in  tears,  and  so  unmanned  that  it  was  half  an  hour  before, 
they  could  recover  themselves  sufficiently  to  come  to  order  and  choose  a? 
Vice-President /?-0  tern." 

"  At  the  President's  on  Monday,  two  of  the  Senators  were  relating 
these  circumstances  to  a  circle  which  had  collected  round  them.  One 
said  he  wished  that  the  tradition  might  be  preserved,  as  one  of  the  most 


THE    TRUE  AARON  BURR.  21 

extraordinary  events  he  had  ever  witnessed.  Another  Senator,  being 
asked,  on  the  day  following  that  on  which  Mr.  Burr  took  his  leave,  how 
long  he  was  speaking,  after  a  moment's  pause,  said  he  could  form  no 
idea  :  it  might  have  been  an  hour  and  it  might  have  been  but  a  moment ; 
when  he  came  to  his  senses,  he  seemed  to  have  awakened  as  from  a  kind 
of  trance.  As  soon  as  the  Senate  could  compose  themselves  sufficiently 
to  appoint  a  president //-<?  tern.,  they  came  to  the  following  resolution  : 

"  '  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Senate  be  presented 
to  Aaron  Burr,  in  testimony  of  the  impartiality,  dignity,  and  ability  with 
which  he  has  presided  over  their  deliberations,  and  of  their  entire  appro 
bation  of  his  conduct  in  the  discharge  of  the  arduous  and  important 
duties  assigned  him  as  president  of  the  Senate/  " 

Thus  passed  this  "  well  graced  actor  "  from  the  political  scene.  He 
was  a  free  man  once  more.  What  will  he  do  next  ?  What  new  project 
will  his  busy  brain  and  hand  carve  out  ?  were  questions  which  every 
tongue  in  the  country  was  now  asking.  But  before  passing  to  the  later 
events  of  his  career,  we  must  pause  to  notice  an  event  which  had  oc 
curred  a  few  months  before,  and  which  exerted  a  powerful  influence  on 
his  subsequent  fortunes.  This  event  was  the  duel  with  Hamilton. 

Public  opinion,  the  judgment  of  apparent  facts,  is  sometimes  correct, 
often  unjust,  but  none  the  less  necessary.  Whether  or  not  the  public 
opinion  which  held  Burr  so  strictly  accountable  for  the  death  of  Hamilton 
was  just  or  unjust,  a  careful  consideration  of  the  facts  anterior  to,  as  well 
as  those  connected  with  the  duel,  in  the  calm  unbiased  spirit  that  time 
has  made  possible,  will  do  much  to  determine. 

It  would  not  be  strange  if  we  should  find,  that,  in  his  case,  the  popular 
judgment  was  both  harsh  and  unjust,  that  he  was  as  averse  to  the  duel  as 
Hamilton  himself,  that  he  used  every  (except  dishonorable)  means  to 
avoid  it,  and  that  he  only  fought  when  absolutely  forced  to  it,  by  the 
course  of  his  rival  and  the  cruel  dictum  of  society  ;  and  we  may  further 
agree  and  conclude,  that  he  was  the  real  victim  of  that  tragedy,  and  not 
the  brilliant  genius  who  fell  beneath  his  fire. 

But  for  the  facts.     And  first,  as  to  the  provocation.     Without  pausing 


22  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

to  notice  the  unsoldierly  conduct  of  Hamilton  toward  Burr,  while  both 
were  in  the  army,  we  will  pass  at  once  to  the  period  when  they  came 
prominently  into  view  as  candidates  for  the  highest  honors  of  the  State. 
To  understand  this  fully  let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  real 
Alexander  Hamilton  and  his  career.  What  manner  of  man  was  he  ? 
As  with  Washington,  a  little  band  of  noisy  claqueurs,  blind  worship, 
pers,  have  exalted  him  into  a  demigod.  Only  in  our  day  of  critical 
analysis,  impartial  judgment,  have  men  dared  to  question  the  truthful 
ness  of  their  dictum.  Who  and  what  then  was  the  true  Hamilton  ? 
A  man  of  brilliant  parts,  of  many  generous  and  lovable  qualities,  but 
possessed  also  of  certain  mean  and  ignoble  traits.  As  a  financier  easily 
V^chief  ;  the  American  people  cannot  too  highly  honor  him  for  what  he  did 
in  funding  their  state  and  national  debts  and  creating  their  financial  sys 
tem  :  but  as  a  statesman  beneath  notice.  He  was  a  monarchist,  an  aris 
tocrat,  a  servile  copyist  of  English  institutions  and  laws  who  distrusted 
the  people  and  sought  to  limit  their  power.  If  by  any  chance  he  origin 
ated  anything,  the  new  features  he  created  were  tenfold  worse  than 
the  old  forms  they  superseded.  To  him  we  are  largely  indebted  for  the 
Senate  in  our  National  Congress, — an  utterly  useless  body, — and  for  the 
election  of  its  members  by  State  legislatures,  easily  purchasable,  easily 
influenced,  rather  than  directly  by  the  people  ;  to  him  also  for  our  absurd 
and  ridiculous  system  of  dual  government,  the  most  burdensome,  confus 
ing,  paradoxical  on  earth.  A  system  that  instead  of  one  national  legislature, 
one  uniform,  universal  code  of  laws,  one  national  court  having  jurisdic 
tion  the  country  over,  gives  us  forty-five  local  law-making  bodies,  forty-five 
diverse,  often  conflicting,  codes  of  laws,  and  forty-five  courts  to  execute 
them,  each  State  with  its  Capitol,  court-houses,  penal  institutions,  judges, 
lawyers,  court  officials,  sheriffs,  and  other  officers  of  justice,  all  supported 
by  the  toiling  taxpayers. 

Everywhere  and  at  all  times  Hamilton  distrusted  the  people,  and  the 
very  first  opportunity  they  got  they  retired  him  and  his  party  permanently. 
Save  in  one  or  two  unimportant  instances  he  never  was  elected  to  public 
office  by  direct  vote  of  the  people  and  never  could  have  been.  Reference 
has  been  made  to  some  of  his  baser  traits.  To  particularize,  he  was 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  2$ 

envious  as  Casca,  he  was  a  backbiter,  a  calumniator,  an  intriguer,  a  log 
roller, — indeed  he  was  the  author  of  this  most  pernicious  practice, — a 
hypocrite  and  self  seeker,  to  say  nothing  of  sundry  private  vices  which  dot 
not  concern  us. 

By  1792  Hamilton's  "  Burrophobia  "  had  so  increased  as  to  not  only 
obscure  his  judgment  but  destroy  common  prudence,  for  he  spoke  and 
wrote  of  Colonel  Burr  in  a  manner  that  he  must  have  known  would  elicit 
a  peremptory  challenge  should  it  come  to  the  latter's  ears.  In  the  presi 
dential  canvass  of  that  year  his  almost  insane  jealousy  led  him  to  write 
thus  of  the  man  against  whose  fair  fame  hardly  a  breath  of  suspicion  had 
been  raised  :  "  /  fear  the  other  gentleman  (Burr)  is  unprincipled  both  as 
a  public  and  private  man.  .  .  .  In  fact  I  take  it  he  is  for  or  against  any 
thing,  as  it  suits  his  interest  or  ambition.  He  is  determined,  as  I  conceive, 
to  make  his  way  to  the  head  of  the  popular  party  and  to  climb  per  fas  aut  tie  fas 
to  the  highest  honors  of  the  State,  and  as  much  higher  as  circumstances  may 
permit.  Embarrassed,  as  I  understand,  in  his  circumstances,  with  an  ex 
travagant  family,  bold,  enterprising  and  intriguing,  I  am  mistaken  if  it  be 
not  his  object  to  play  the  game  of  conspiracy,  and  I  feel  it  to  be  a  religious 
duty  to  oppose  his  career."  September  26,  he  wrote  again  to  another  friend, 
Rufus  King  :  "  Mr.  Burr's  integrity  as  an  individual  is  not  unimpeached, 
and  as  a  public  man,  he  is  one  of  the  worst  sort.  ...  in  a  word,  if  we 
have  an  embryo  C&sar  in  the  United  States,  it  is  Burr."  These  words  were 
not  the  confidential  utterances  of  one  friend  to  another,  they  were  written 
for  effect,  for  in  a  few  days  King  writes  back,  that  "  Care  has  been  taken 
to  put  our  friends  at  the  eastward  on  their  guard." 

In  1794,  Colonel  Burr  was  nominated  by  his  party  as  Minister  to 
France,  but  Washington  refused  to  ratify  the  nomination.  "  It  was,"  he  * 
said,  "  the  rule  of  his  public  life,  to  nominate  no  one  for  public  office  of 
whose  integrity  he  was  not  insured."  But  when  had  Burr's  integrity  been 
questioned,  except  by  political  rivals  ?  or  when  had  he  ever  betrayed  a 
trust,  public  or  private  ?  The  instance  cannot  be  found,  and  Washing 
ton's  distrust  at  this  time,  may  readily  be  traced  to  the  potent  influence  of 
Hamilton,  then  the  confidential  man  of  his  administration. 

Again,  in  1798,  when  French  insolence  had  provoked  the  young  repub- 


24  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

lie  to  warlike  measures,  and  an  army  had  been  voted,  and  new  general 
officers  appointed,  it  was  Hamilton  again  that  blighted  Burr's  honest  mili 
tary  ambitions.  Sturdy  John  Adams  gives  the  details  in  a  letter  written 
in  1815,  and  published  in  the  tenth  volume  of  his  works.  "  I  have  never 
known,"  he  writes,  "  the  prejudice  in  favor  of  birth,  parentage  and  descent, 
more  conspicuous  than  in  the  instance  of  Col.  Burr.  That  gentleman 
was  connected  by  blood  with  many  respectable  families  in  New  England. 
.  .  .  He  had  served  in  the  army,  and  came  out  of  it  with  the  character 
of  a  knight  without  fear,  and  an  able  officer.  He  had  afterward  studied 
and  practiced  law  with  application  and  success.  Buoyed  up  on  those 
religious  partialities,  and  this  military  and  juridical  reputation,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  Governor  Clinton  and  Chancellor  Livingston  should  take 
notice  of  him.  They  made  him  Attorney  General,  and  the  legislature 
sent  him  to  Congress,  where,  I  believe,  he  served  six  years.  At  the  next 
election,  he  was,  however,  left  out,  and  being  at  that  time  somewhat  em 
barrassed  in  circumstances,  and  reluctant  to  return  to  the  bar,  he  would 
have  rejoiced  in  an  appointment  in  the  army. 

"  In  this  situation  I  proposed  to  Washington,  and  through  him  to  the 
triumvirate*  to  nominate  Col.  Burr  for  a  brigadier-general.  Washing 
ton's  answer  to  me  was,  '  By  all  that  I  have  known  and  heard,  Col.  Burr 
is  a  brave  and  able  officer  ;  but  the  question  is  whether  he  has  not  equal 
talents  at  intrigue.'  How  shall  I  describe  to  you  my  sensations  and  re 
flections  at  that  moment.  He  had  compelled  me  to  promote  over  the 
heads  of  Lincoln,  Clinton,  Gates,  Knox,  and  others,  and  even  over  Pinck- 
ney,  one  of  his  own  triumvirates  [Hamilton]  the  most  restless,  impatient, 
artful,  indefatigable,  and  unprincipled  intriguer  in  the  United  States,  if  not 
in  the  world,  to  be  second  in  command  under  himself,  and  now  dreaded 
an  intriguer  in  a  poor  brigadier.  He  did  however  propose  it,  at  least  to 
Hamilton.  But  I  was  not  permitted  to  nominate  Burr.  If  I  had  been, 
what  would  have  been  the  consequences  ?  Shall  I  say  that  Hamilton 
would  have  been  now  alive,  and  Hamilton  and  Burr  now  at  the  head  of 
our  affairs.  What  then  ?  If  I  had  nominated  Burr  without  the  consent 
of  the  triumvirate,  a  negative  in  the  Senate  was  certain."  This  letter  is 
*  Washington,  Hamilton,  and  Pinckney. 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  2$ 

interesting  as  giving  Adams'  estimate  of  the  two  men  ;  it  also  shows 
Hamilton's  marvellous  facility  for  inoculating  every  one  he  met  with  his\ 
own  disease  of  Burrophobia. 

Again,  in  1800,  when  there  was  a  possibility  of  Burr  becoming  Presi 
dent,  Hamilton  renewed  more  openly  and  bitterly  his  attacks.  December  ^ 
17,  1800,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Wolcott  of  Connecticut,  in  which  he 
says  :  "  Let  it  not  be  imagined  that  Mr.  Burr  can  be  won  to  Federal  views  ; 
it  is  a  vain  hope  ...  to  accomplish  his  end,  he  must  lean  upon  un 
principled  men,  and  will  continue  to  adhere  to  the  myrmidons  who  have 
hitherto  surrounded  him.  To  these  he  will  no' doubt  add  able  rogues  of 
the  Federal  party,  but  he  will  employ  the  rogues  of  all  parties  to  overrule 
the  good  men  of  all  parties,  and  to  prosecute  projects  which  wise  men  of 
every  description  will  disapprove.  These  things  are  to  be  inferred  with 
moral  certainty  from  the  character  of  the  man.  Every  step  in  his  career 
proves  that  he  has  formed  himself  upon  the  model  of  Catiline,  and  that  he 
is  too  cold-blooded  and  too  determined  a  conspirator  ever  to  change  his 
plan.  Alas,  when  will  men  consult  their  reason  rather  than  their  passion  ? 
Whatever  they  may  imagine,  the  desire  of  mortifying  the  adverse  party, 
must  be  the  chief  spring  of  the  disposition  to  prefer  Mr.  Burr  .  .  . 
Adieu  to  the  Federal  Troy,  if  they  once  introduce  this  Grecian  horse  into  their 
citadel" 

The  August  before,  he  had  written  to  Senator  Bayard  of  Delaware  : 
"  There  seems  to  be  too  much  probability  that  Jefferson  or  Burr  will  be 
President.  The  latter  is  intriguing  with  all  his  might  in  New  Jersey, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Vermont.  He  counts  positively  on  the  universal  sup 
port  of  the  anti-Federalists,  and  that  by  some  adventitious  aid  from  other 
quarters  he  will  overtop  his  friend  Jefferson.  Admitting  the  first  point, 
the  conclusion  may  be  realized,  and,  if  it  is  so,  Burr  will  certainly  attempt 
to  reform  the  Government  a  la  Bonaparte.  He  is  as  unprincipled  and 
dangerous  a  man  as  any  country  can  boast — as  true  a  Catiline  as  ever  met  in 
midnights  onclave. ' ' 

These  letters  read  like  the  ravings  of  a  monomaniac  ;  they  are  but 
samples  of  many,  sown  broadcast  over  the  country  for  the  sole  purpose, 
as  we  must  conclude,  of  blighting  the  prospects  and  reputation  of  Aaron 


26  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

Burr.  With  his  tongue  Hamilton  was  even  more  busy  and  venomous. 
What  its  effect  was  on  the  community — coming  from  so  eminent  a  source 
•^may  be  imagined.  All  this  time  the  victim  was  ignorant  and  even  un 
suspicious  of  his  rival's  conduct ;  the  two  men  were  apparently  on  terms 
J  of  friendship  ;  they  met  in  professional  consultations,  and  dined  at  one 
another's  tables.  It  was  in  1802,  I  believe,  that  Colonel  Burr  first  heard 
'of,A Hamilton's  manner  of  conducting  political  campaigns,  and  he  at  once 
sought  a  personal  interview  and  demanded  an  explanation.  This  Hamil 
ton  gave,  and  admitted  that  in  the  heat  of  a  political  canvass  he  had 
spoken  hastily  of  Colonel  Burr,  and  in  terms  not  usual  with  gentlemen, 
and  promised  to  be  more  careful  in  future.  But  in  the  succeeding  cam 
paign  of  1804  partisan  rivalry  was  most  intense,  and  Hamilton's  un 
guarded  expressions  more  violent  and  bitter  than  ever  before  ;  so  much  so 
that  Cheetham,  editor  of  the  American  Citizen,  the  organ  of  the  Clintonian 
Republicans,  paraded  in  the  columns  of  his  newspaper  the  query,  Is  the 
Vice-President  sunk  so  low  as  to  submit  to  be  insulted  by  General  Hamil 
ton  ?  while  at  the  same  time  the  thousand  gossipy  tongues  of  society  were 
taking  up  and  repeating  the  same  question. 

Reports  of  Hamilton's  conduct  were  brought  to  Burr  at  the  close  of 
the  campaign  by  certain  renegade  Federalists  driven  from  the  ranks  by 
their  chief's  arrogance  ;  but  he  seems  to  have  taken  no  action  in  the 
matter,  and  awaited  further  developments.  At  length  his  attention  was 
called  to  a  letter — written  by  Dr.  Charles  D.  Cooper,  of  New  York,  and 
published  in  thev  newspapers  during  the  campaign — which  contained, 
among  others,  the  following  sentences  : 

"  Gen.  Hamilton  and  Judge  Kent  have  declared  in  substance,  that  they 
looked  upon  Mr.  Burr  to  be  a  dangerous  man,  and  one  who  ought  not  to 
be  trusted  with  the  reins  of  government,"  and  "  I  could  detail  to  you  a 
still  more  despicable  opinion,  which  Gen.  Hamilton  has  expressed  of  Mr. 
Burr."  Colonel  Burr  quietly  marked  the  obnoxious  passages,  and  sent 
them  by  the  hand  of  his  friend,  William  P.  Van  Ness,  to  General  Hamil 
ton,  with  a  note  which  concluded  as  follows  : 

"You  must  perceive,  sir,  the  necessity  of  a  prompt  and  unqualified 
acknowledgment  or  denial  of  the  use  of  any  expressions  which  would  war- 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  2/ 

rant  the  assertions  of  Mr.  Cooper."  The  correspondence  which  followed 
is  too  voluminous  for  insertion  here.  In  it  Burr  maintained  the  position 
taken  in  his  first  letter.  Hamilton  denied  in  part,  equivocated,  hedged, 
but  absolutely  refused  to  make  the  unqualified  acknowledgment  and  de 
nial  asked  for  by  Colonel  Burr.  Such  a  course  would  have  reinstated  his 
rival  in  public' confidence,  and  destroyed  the  work  of  years.  Society  too 
might  have  considered  it  an  apology  from  necessity  rather  than  principle. 
Burr,  on  his  part,  all  the  lion  in  him  roused  by  Hamilton's  repeated  and 
treacherous  attacks,  receded  not  a  whit  from  his  original  demand. 
In  one  of  his  letters  on  the  subject  he  most  admirably  defined  his 
position. 

"Political  opposition,"  said  he,  "-can  never  absolve  gentlemen  from 
the  necessity  of  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  laws  of  honor,  and  the  rules  of 
decorum.  I  neither  claim  such  privilege,  nor  indulge  it  in  others.  The 
common  sense  of  mankind  affixes  to  the  epithet  adopted  by  Dr.  Cooper 
the  idea  of  dishonor.  It  has  been  publicly  applied  to  me,  under  the  sanc 
tion  of  your  name.  The  question  is  not  whether  he  has  understood  the 
meaning  of  the  word,  or  has  used  it  according  to  syntax  and  with  gram 
matical  accuracy,  but  whether  you  have  authorized  this  application,  either 
directly,  or  by  uttering  expressions  or  opinions  derogatory  to  my  honor." 
And  again  in  his  last  paper  drawn  up  for  the  guidance  of  his  second  he 
enlarges  upon  this  point. 

"  Aaron  Burr,  far  from  conceiving  that  rivalship  authorizes  a  latitude 
not  otherwise  justifiable,  always  feels  great  delicacy  in  such  cases,  and 
would  think  it  meanness  to  speak  of  a  rival,  but  in  terms  of  respect ;  to 
do  justice  to  his  merits,  to  be  silent  of  his  foibles.  Such  has  invariably 
been  his  conduct  towards  Jay,  Adams,  and  Hamilton,  the  only  three  who 
can  be  supposed  to  have  stood  in  that  relation  to  him. 

"  That  he  has  too  much  reason  to  believe  that  in  regard  to  Mr.  Hamil 
ton  there  has  been  no  such  reciprocity.  For  several  years  his  name  has 
been  lent  to  the  support  of  base  slanders.  He  has  never  had  the  gener 
osity,  the  magnanimity,  or  the  candor  to  contradict  or  disavow.  Burr 
-forbears  to  particularize,  as  it  could  only  tend  to  produce  new  irritations, 
but  having  made  great  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of  harmony,  having  exercised 


28  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

forbearance  until  it  approached  humiliation,  he  has  seen  no  effect  pro 
duced  by  such  conduct,  but  a  repetition  of  injury. 

"  He  is  obliged  to  conclude  that  there  is  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Hamilton, 
a  settled  and  implacable  malevolence  ;  that  he  will  never  cease  in  his 
conduct  toward  Mr.  Burr,  to  violate  those  courtesies  of  life,  and  that 
hence  he  has  no  alternative  but  to  announce  these  things  to  the  world, 
which  consistently  with  Mr.  Burr's  ideas  of  propriety,  can  be  done  in  no 
way  but  that  which  he  has  adopted.  He  is  incapable  of  revenge,  still 
less  is  he  capable  of  imitating  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Hamilton  by  commit 
ting  secret  depredation  on  his  fame  and  character.  But  these  things  must 
have  an  end." 

These  are  hardly  the  words  of  a  vindictive,  blood-thirsty  villain,  and 
indeed  they  are  not,  for  a  more  amiable,  generous,  and  genial  man  than 
Colonel  Burr  never  lived,  but  he  could  and  would  protect  himself  when 
wronged  beyond  endurance.  The  paper  last  quoted  was  Burr's  ultima 
tum,  and  Hamilton  declaring  its  terms  inadmissible,  both  parties  prepared 
to  fight. 

Never  perhaps  since  the  institution  of  the  code  was  a  meeting  so 
inevitable  as  between  these  two.  Both  were  soldiers,  devotees  of  honor, 
and  men  of  society.  Both  had  recognized  the  code  by  their  presence, 
either  as  principals  or  seconds,  at  several  affairs  of  honor,  and  both  were 
well  aware  that  their  position  in  politics  and  society  depended  on  their 
not  showing  the  white  feather  at  this  particular  crisis. 

July  n,  1804,  at  seven  in  the  morning,  was  the  day  and  hour  fixed 
upon — twenty-four  days  after  the  first  hostile  message. 

According  to  Hamilton's  biographers  Burr  spent  the  intervening  time 
in  practising  with  pistols.  This  is  a  falsehood.  Aaron  Burr  was  an 
adept  with  the  pistol  from  his  youth.  He  spent  it  as  he  had  the  other 
days  of  the  year,  in  business,  in  celebrating  Theodosia's  birthday  at  his 
beautiful  mansion  on  Richmond  Hill,  in  meeting  choice  spirits  at  the 
convivial  board — among  the  latter  Hamilton  himself  at  the  annual  banquet 
\  on  July  Fourth  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  of  which  both  men  were 
members  and  Hamilton  President.  On  this  occasion  the  latter  is  said  to 
have  been  cheerful,  even  merry,  Burr  grave  and  reserved,  never  once 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  29 

looking  at  the  President  until  by  request  the  latter  consented  to  sing  the 
famous  old  ballad  of  The  Drum,  when  he  regarded  him  fixedly  until  the 
song  was  concluded. 

Both  principals  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  night  of  the  zoth  in  final 
preparations  for  the  duel,  and  in  writing  to  absent  relatives  what  each  felt 
might  be  his  last  words.  Burr  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Theodosia,  now  in 
the  distant  State  of  South  Carolina,  the  beloved  wife  of  its  Governor, 
Joseph  Alston.  He  gave  her  explicit  directions  as  to  the  disposal  of  his 
letters,  papers,  and  servants.  She  was  to  burn  all  of  the  former  which,  if 
made  public,  could  by  any  means  injure  any  person.  His  faithful  house 
keeper,  Peggy,  was  to  have  fifty  dollars  and  a  lot  of  ground,  and  the  other 
servants  he  urged  her  to  take  into  her  own  household.  To  herself  he 
gave  a  seal  of  General  Washington's,  which  he  valued  highly,  probably 
from  its  having  been  a  gift  from  the  great  man  himself. 

"  I  am  indebted  to  you  my  dearest  Theodosia,"  he  concluded,  "  for  a 
very  great  portion  of  the  happiness  which  I  have  enjoyed  in  this  life. 
You  have  completely  satisfied  all  that  my  heart  and  affections  had  hoped 
or  even  wished.  With  a  little  more  perseverance,  determination,  and  in 
dustry,  you  will  obtain  all  that  my  ambition  or  vanity  had  fondly  ima 
gined.  Let  your  son  have  occasion  to  be  proud  that  he  had  a  mother. 
Adieu.  Adieu." 

He  also  wrote  a  long  letter  to  her  husband,  Governor  Alston,  in  which 
he  said  :  "  If  it  should  be  my  lot  to  fall  yet  I  shall  live  in  you  and  your 
son.  I  commit  to  you  all  that  is  most  dear  to  me — my  reputation  and 
my  daughter.  Your  talent  and  your  attachments  will  be  the  guardian  of 
the  one — your  kindness  and  your  generosity  of  the  other.  Let  me  entreat 
you  to  stimulate  and  aid  Theodosia  in  the  cultivation  of  her  mind.  It  is 
indispensable  to  her  happiness  and  essential  to  yours.  It  is  also  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  your  son.  She  would  presently  acquire  a  critical 
knowledge  of  Latin,  English  and  all  branches  of  natural  philosophy.  All 
this  would  be  poured  into  your  son.  If  you  should  differ  with  me  as  to 
the  importance  of  this  measure  suffer  me  to  ask  it  of  you  as  a  last  favor. 
She  will  richly  compensate  your  trouble." 

A  few  hours  before  morning  this  man  of  iron  nerve,  removing  his 


30  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

outer  clothing,  threw  himself  upon  the  sofa  in  his  library  and  was  soon 
fast  asleep. 

Hamilton  too,  spent  many  of  his  last  hours  in  writing  tender  epistles 
to  his  wife  and  children,  and  among  others,  a  paper  to  posterity  and  the 
public  at  large  which  may  be.  regarded  as  the  meanest  act  of  his  life  :  for 

/its  sole  object  was,  if  he  fell,  to  damn  his  opponent  and  pour  all  the  vials 
of  the  public's  wrath  upon  his  devoted  head.  He  shrank  from  the  coming 
contest,  he  wrote.  Religion,  his  duty  to  his  family  and  creditors  forbade 
it.  He  bore  no  ill  will  to  Colonel  Burr  apart  from  political  opposition. 
"  As  well,"  he  concluded,  "because  it  is  possible  that  I  may  have  injured 
Colonel  Burr,  however  convinced  myself  that  my  opinions  and  declara 
tions  have  been  well  founded,  as  from  my  general  principles  and  temper 
in  relation  to  similar  affairs  I  have  resolved  if  our  interview  is  conducted 
in  the  usual  manner,  and  it  pleases  God  to  give  me  the  opportunity,  to 
reserve  and  throw  away  my  first  fire,  and  I  have  thoughts  even  of  reserv 
ing  my  second  fire,  and  thus  giving  a  double  opportunity  to  Colonel  Burr 
to  pause  and  to  reflect.  It  is  not  however  my  intention  to  enter  into  any 
explanations  on  the  ground.  Apology  from  principle  I  hope  rather  than 
pride  is  out  of  the  question.  To  those  who  with  me  abhorring  the  practice 
of  dueling  may  think  that  I  ought  on  no  account  to  have  added  to  the 
number  of  bad  examples,  I  answer  that  my  relative  situation  as  well  in 
public  as  in  private  enforcing  all  the  considerations  which  constitute  what 
men  of  the  world  denominate  honor,  imposed  on  me  (as  I  thought)  a 
peculiar  necessity  not  to  decline  this  call.  The  ability  to  be  in  the  future 
useful  whether  in  resisting  mischief  or  effecting  good  in  those  crises  of 
our  public  affairs  which  seem  likely  to  happen  would  probably  be  insep 
arable  from  a  conformity  with  public  prejudice  in  this  particular." 

What  magnanimity  !  what  generosity  !  and  yet  if  a  moiety  of  it  had 
but  been  exercised  in  the  daily  walks  of  life  there  would  have  been  no 
occasion  for  this  hostile  meeting.  But  the  most  damaging  thing  about 
this  paper  is  that  the  author  of  it  had  been  from  his  youth  up  a  staunch 
supporter  of  the  duello  as  the  most  natural  mode  of  settling  disputes 
i  between  gentlemen.  He  had  defended  it  by  serving  as  second  to 
Colonel  Laurens  in  his  duel  with  General  Lee.  Three  years  before  his 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  31 

eldest  son,  the  pride  of  his  heart,  had  fallen  in  a  duel  caused  by  his 
resenting  an  imputation  on  his  father's  honor,  and  not  a  word  in  con 
demnation  of  it  came  from  that  father's  lips.  Over  and  over  had  his 
friends  and  retainers  fought  and  bled  for  him  and  his  cause,  and  never  before 
had  his  voice  been  raised  in  condemnation  of  the  modern  Juggernaut. 

Colonel  Burr  always  regarded  this  paper  with  the  greatest  disgust. 
"It  read,"  he  said,  "like  the  confession  of  a  penitent  monk." 

At  daybreak  on  the  morning  of  the  nth  John  Swartwout,  a  friend 
and  retainer  of  Col.  Burr's,  came  to  call  his  chief  and  was  surprised 
to  find  him  sleeping  as  tranquilly  as  a  babe.  He  awakened  him.  William 
P.  Van  Ness,  who  was  to  act  as  second,  and  another  friend  or  two  arrived 
and  the  party  hurried  down  to  the  Hudson  where  a  row-boat  had  been 
provided  to  carry  them  to  the  opposite  shore.  The  favorite  duelling 
ground  of  those  days,  and  almost  the  only  one  near  the  city,  was  a  bench 
or  shelf  of  rock  on  the  face  of  the  precipitous  Palisades  at  Weehawken  a 
little  south  of  the  spot  where  the  tunnel  of  the  West  Shore  Railroad  now 
pierces  it.  It  long  since  disappeared  but  a  pillar  on  the  brow  of  the  cliff 
above  fixes  its  position  approximately. 

Burr's  party  reached  the  spot  first  as  had  been  prearranged.  It  was 
a  narrow,  grassy  shelf  about  eleven  paces  long  by  six  feet  wide.  Shaded 
by  a  dense  wood,  inaccessible  to  pedestrians  along  the  river  bank,  and 
with  no  house  in  sight  it  was  peculiarly  well  fitted  for  the  secret  and 
bloody  encounters  that  had  given  it  the  soubriquet  of  the  American 
Golgotha.  It  was  a  clear,  bright  sunshiny  morning.  A  few  moments 
before  seven  Hamilton  and  his  party  arrived. 

After  the  usual  salutations  between  principals  and  seconds  the  latter 
proceeded  to  measure  off  ten  full  paces  and  to  cast  lots  for  choice  of 
position  and  as  to  which  second  should  give  the  fatal  word.  Fate  was 
unkind  to  Hamilton  in  both  cases.  Nathaniel  Pendleton,  his  second,  won 
and  placed  his  principal  at  the  upper  end  of  the  ledge  facing  both  the 
sun  and  flashing  water  beneath,  which  was  a  mistake  as  the  glare  from 
both  must  have  interfered  with  the  aim. 

As  Pendleton  handed  his  pistol  to  Hamilton  he  asked  if  he  would 
have  the  hair  trigger  set.  "Not this  time"  replied  his  principal. 


32  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

At  the  word  "Present"  they  were  to  fire  as  soon  as  they  pleased.  The 
pistols  were  raised,  Burr  facing  the  cliff,  Hamilton  with  his  back  to  it 
looking  over  toward  the  city.  "One  moment,"  said  Hamilton  and  re 
moving  his  spectacles  he  wiped  them  carefully  with  his  handkerchief, 
then  replaced  them.  The  glare  dimmed  his  sight  and  he  attributed 
it  to  the  spectacles.  "  Present,"  then  came  the  word.  Hamilton  fired 
first.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  this.  Burr  on  the  only  occasion  he 
ever  revisited  the  spot,  so  declared,  and  his  second  Van  Ness,  maintained 
it  to  his  dying  day.  "  When  he  stood  up  to  fire,"  said  Burr,  "  he  caught 
my  eye  and  quailed  under  it ;  he  looked  like  a  convicted  felon." 
His  ball  severed  a  twig  over  Burr's  head.  The  latter  fired  a  second 
later,  his  bullet  entering  his  adversary's  right  side  and  inflicting  a  mortal 
wound. 

Burr  was  quite  unprepared  for  the  popular  clamor  against  him  that 
arose  on  Hamilton's  death.  Duels,  many  of  them  ending  in  death,  were 
of  almost  daily  occurrence  at  Weehawken  and  had  been  for  a  generation 
of  men.  In  few  of  them  could  the  challenging  party  show  the  provoca 
tion  that  he  had  received.  But  never  before  had  the  duelist's  bullet 
sought  so  shining  a  mark.  Besides  politics  was  in  it.  Jefferson  and  his. 
faction  saw  in  the  duel  an  opportunity  to  kill  a  dangerous  rival ;  the 
Clinton  and  Livingston  factions  of  New  York  were  equally  perspicuous. 
As  for  the  Federalists  whose  high  priest  had  fallen,  they  were  beside  them 
selves  with  grief  and  rage.  So  the  press  fulminated,  the  pulpit  anathema 
tized,  and  orators  and  pamphleteers  the  country  over  united  in  denouncing 
he  man  who  had  routed  Federalism  forever,  brought  in  Democracy,  made 
Jefferson  President,  and  set  forward  the  hand  of  progress  farther  on 
the  dial  plate  of  time  in  a  day  than  had  any  of  his  contemporaries  in  a 
century.  But  in  the  South  and  West  dwelt  men  who  admired  courage 
and  manliness,  and  among  these  Burr  still  had  a  following. 

Fierce  demands  were  made  for  his  indictment  as  a  murderer  and 
to  escape  this  and  allow  the  popular  excitement  to  abate,  Colonel  Burr, 
who  it  is  to  be  remembered  was  still  Vice-President,  set  out  in  July,  1804, 
on  a  Southern  tour,  visiting  his  daughter  Theodosia  in  her  beautiful 
home,  "  The  Oaks,"  near  Georgetown,  S.  C.,  and  spending  several  weeks 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  33 

with  old  political  friends  in  South  Carolina  and  other  Southern  States. 
From  this  tour  he  returned  in  time  to  resume  for  the  last  time  his  duties 
as  President  of  the  Senate,  as  before  narrated. 

On  retiring  from  the  Vice-Presidency  Colonel  Burr  was  a  free  man 
once  more.  To  the  superficial  view  his  political  career  was  ended.  But 
it  is  certain  that  if  he  had  after  a  time  settled  down  in  New  York 
to  his  profession  of  the  law  he  might  in  a  few  years  have  regained  his 
old  political  ascendency.  The  common  people  loved  him.  He  had  that 
rare  quality,  personal  magnetism.  He  had  tact.  He  was  a  soldier  of 
approved  valor,  put  to  the  test  on  the  field  and  in  the  imminent  deadly  / 
breach.  He  was  generous,  sympathetic,  democratic,  in  that  he  had 
a  regard  for  the  under  dog  in  the  fight,  and  a  stern  hater  of  all  sham, 
pretence,  and  affectation.  Matthew  Lyon,  the  fierce  democrat  who 
figured  as  principal  in  the  first  Congressional  fracas,  urged  him  to  come 
to  Tennessee,  hang  out  his  shingle  at  Nashville,  and  run  for  the  next 
Congress,  assuring  him  of  a  triumphant  election. 

But  Colonel  Burr  decided  to  leave  the  United  States.  In  point  of 
fact  he  was  not  in  sympathy  with  its  form  of  government,  which,  profess 
ing  to  be  republican,  he  thought  was  in  reality  oligarchical.  He  had 
himself  some  ideas  as  to  a  model  republic,  and  thought  he  could  improve 
.vastly  on  the  much  lauded  and  overpraised  Constitution  of  1789.  From 
his  conversations  in  later  life  we  can  outline  his  scheme  of  government 
with  considerable  confidence.  He  thought  that  government  best  which 
governed  least,  and  planned  for  a  much  simpler  form  of  government  than 
that  of  the  Federalist.  One  law-making  body  chosen  directly  and  every 
year  by  the  people  and  responsible  solely  to  them,  the  referendum  for  all 
important  questions,  an  executive  also  elected  directly  by  the  people 
j  for  a  six-years'  term  and  inelegible  for  re-election,  and  two  courts,  a  trial 
court  and  an  appellate  court,  fof  each  judicial  district,  with  arbitration  for 
all  minor  cases,  were  its  principal  features. 

Colonel  Burr,  it  is  well  known,  had  little  respect  for  our  system  of 
jurisprudence,  which  is  based  on  the  old  English  common  law  with  all  its 
archaisms,  its  absurd  terminology  and  foolish  repetitions,  its  quips  and 
quibbles,  stays,  appeals,  adjournments,  injustices,  so  that  a  case  may  run 


34  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

the  gauntlet  of  the  courts  from  ten  to  fifteen  years  before  final  adjudica 
tion.  In  his  system  he  would  have  introduced  some  vital  reforms,  par 
ticularly  in  the  much  lauded  jury  system.  Instead  of  throwing  out  a 
drag  net  and  hauling  in  as  jurors  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  ignorant 
of  the  rules  of  evidence,  unaccustomed  to  weighing  facts,  he  would  have 
.  proposed  a  school  for  the  education  of  professional  jurors,  from  the 
I  graduates  of  which  he  would  have  selected  his  panel.  There  would  have 
been  six  instead  of  twelve,  and  a  majority  vote  would  have  decided. 
From  their  decision  there  would  have  been  no  appeal  as  to  matters  of 
fact,  and  but  one  as  to  questions  of  law,  and  that  one  to  an  appellate 
court  composed  of  six  judges  of  approved  learning  and  integrity. 

Is  it  not  certain  that  with  a  code  and  system  thus  simplified,  the  busi 
ness  of  the  courts  would  go  forward  with  a  vigor  and  celerity  wholly 
unknown  under  the  present  regime  ?  If  Colonel  Burr  could  have  been 
let  alone  it  is  certain  we  should  have  seen  these  novel  plans  and  theories 
put  in  operation.  The  question  with  him  now  was  where  could  he  go  to 
set  up  this  model  republic.  -The  United  States,  his  own  country,  was 
committed  to  the  plan  of  Hamilton.  Mexico,  on  the  south,  rose  before 
his  vision,  a  land  of  old  renown,  believed  by  many  to  have  been  the  cradle 
of  the  human  race,  but  now,  under  the  rule  of  the  cruel,  ignorant  Span 
iard,  submerged  in  wretchedness  and  degradation.  Here  was  a  country 
that  could  easily  be  wrested  from  its  masters.  There  he  could  set  up  his 
model  government  of  such  surpassing  excellence  that  all  other  nations 
must  accept  it  as  their  model. 

In  the  spring  of  1805,  with  this  nebulous  plan  in  mind,  he  set  out  for 
a  six-months'  tour  of  the  Western  and  Southwestern  country.  He  had 
many  friends  in  those  sections,  old  army  comrades,  Senators  over  whom 
he  had  presided,  professional  friends,  social  acquaintances  made  during 
his  term  of  office,  and  from  conversations  with  them  he  returned  con 
vinced  that  his  plan  was  perfectly  feasible. 

War  with  Spain  seemed  inevitable.  The  bent  toward  Southwestern 
acquisition  in  the  West  and  South  was  large,  his  own  military  reputation 
was  such  that  at  the  first  unfurling  of  his  standard  for  a  descent  on 
Mexico  he  could  count  on  an  army  of  the  choicest,  most  gallant  spirits, 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  35 

while  on  its  once  setting  foot  on  Mexican  soil,  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
there  might  be  .counted  on  to  rise  in  revolt. 

Burr  determined  to  raise  an  army,  take  Mexico,  and  found  there  his 
empire,  which  was  to  be  a  one-man  government  at  first,  but  which  as  soon 
as  the  people  were  ripe  for  it  should  be  made  a  republic  in  fact  as  well  as 
in  name.  >  Such  was*  his  plan,  and  the  whole  plan.  To  say  that  he  con 
templated  a  severance  of  the  West  from  the  East  and  the  setting  up  of  a 
trans-Alleghany  empire,  is  to  write  him  down  for  a  fool  or  madman. 
The  thing  was  impossible  of  execution  even  if  he  had  desired  it.  It  was 
filibustering  of  course,  but  then  there  was  never  a  ranker  set  of  fili 
busters  than  those  brought  to  these  shores  by  the  Mayflower>  and  them 
we  revere,  and  rightly,  too,  as  most  perfect  models  of  correctness  ;  in 
fact,  the  whole  history  of  the  race  is  little  more  than  a  record  of  the 
filibustering  of  the  strong  against  the  weak. 

But  to  return  to  our  subject.  His  plan  was  predicated  largely  on  the 
fact  of  a  war  with  Spain.  Jefferson's  prudence  averted  that  war,  and  Burr 
turned  his  energies  toward  advancing  a  secondary  scheme  which  he  had 
formed,  should  the  first  prove  impracticable.  This  was  the  establishment 
of  a  colony  on  the  Washita  River  near  Texas,  to  be  used  as  a  base  of  op 
erations  in  future  attempts  upon  Mexico.  General  Wilkinson,  then  Gov 
ernor  of  the  new  territory  of  Louisiana,  Daniel  Clark,  a  wealthy  New 
Orleans  merchant,  Andrew  Jackson,  Governor  Allston,  General  Adair  of 
Kentucky,  Colonel  Dupeister,  and  hundreds  of  other  prominent  persons 
were  cognizant  of  this  scheme,  and  interested  in  it.  As  a  preliminary 
step  50,000  acres  of  land  on  the  Washita  River,  known  as  the  "  Bastrop 
Lands,"  were  bought  by  Colonel  Burr's  agents,  and  preparations  for  colo 
nizing  it  were  urged  forward.  Provisions  were  bought,  recruits  enlisted, 
and  boats  wherewith  to  descend  the  Mississippi  contracted  for.  The 
rendezvous  was  at  Blennerhasset's  Island,— an  historic  spot,  and  one  de 
manding  more  than  a  passing  mention. 

No  locality  in  the  land  is  better  known,  and  not  alone  in  forensic  con 
tests  have  its  velvet  lawns  and  quiet  glades,  its  gardens  and  fountains,  and 
shrubberies  "which  Shenstone  might  have  envied,"  been  held  up  to 
the  gaze  of  an  admiring  and  pitying  public.  The  owner  of  this  "  earthly 


36  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

paradise,"  too,  has  received  his  full  share  of  adulation  ;  fifty  years  ago  no 
subject  was  more  fascinating  to  the  average  writer,  male  or  female,  than 
Harman  Blennerhasset  and  his  alleged  wrongs,  and  no  tragedy  of  that 
day  was  thought  complete  which  did  not  present  this  unfortunate  man  as 
the  Amiable  Victim,  and  Aaron  Burr  as  the  Heavy  Villain  of  its  dramatis 
persona. 

In  point  of  fact,  the  story  of  Burr's  connection  with  Blennerhasset  is 
a  very  prosaic  one.  They  first  met  in  1805,  when  Burr  was  on  his  West 
ern  tour.  He  was  journeying  down  the  Ohio  with  a  friend,  in  a  row-boat, 
and  passing  the  island,  landed  from  motives  of  curiosity,  having  heard 
that  it  was  the  home  of  an  eccentric  foreigner.  He  was  kindly  received, 
pressed  to  stay  to  tea,  remained,  spent-  the  evening  with  his  entertainers, 
and  resumed  his  voyage  late  at  night.  The  two  did  not  meet  again  until 
Colonel  Burr  came  West  on  his  scheme  for  colonizing  the  Washita  Lands. 

Who  was  Blennerhasset  ?  A  renegade  Englishman,  driven  from  his 
t  own  country  for  the  crime  of  incest,  who  had  fled  into  the  western  wilder 
ness  to  escape  the  reproaches  of  his  friends  and  perhaps  the  stings  of  con 
science.  He  had  reared  on  his  island  a  plain,  wooden,  two-story  structure, 
half  barracks,  half  blockhouse,  and  had  cleared  a  few  acres  of  land,  part 
of  it  lawn,  part  garden,  part  cultivated  field.  Probably  ten  thousand  dol 
lars  would  have  met  the  actual  cost  of  his  improvements.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  he  was  now  nearly  bankrupt  and  needed  no  urging  to  engage  in  any 
enterprise  that  promised  both  excitement  to  drown  memory  and  money  to 
repair  his  fortunes.  His  "  island,"  the  paradise  of  the  historical  romancers, 
was  a  narrow  strip  of  land  in  the  Ohio  River,  fourteen  miles  below  Mari 
etta,  three  or  four  miles  in  length  and  comprising  about  two  hundred  and 
seventy  acres  of  land.  It  was  neither  picturesque  nor  romantic,  certainly 
not  an  Eden. 

Here  it  was  that  in  the  summer  of  1806,  preparations  were  busily 
made  for  colonizing  the  tract  on  the  Washita.  On  the  4th  of  August, 
these  were  so  far  advanced  that  Colonel  Burr  with  his  accomplished 
daughter  Theodosia  left  the  island  for  the  Cumberland  River,  where  an 
other  detachment  was  rendezvoused,  leaving  Blennerhasset  to  complete 
the  preparations  on  his  island,  and  then  join  his  chief  late  in  the  fall  at 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 


37 


the  mouth  of  the  Cumberland,  where  the  united  force  would  proceed 
down  the  Mississippi  on  its  enterprise.  But  before  these  plans  could  be 
carried  out,  Burr  was  surprised  to  learn,  from  the  President  himself,  that 
his  colonization  scheme  was  treasonable. 

On  the  25th  of  November,  1806,  Jefferson  received  from  General  Wil 
kinson  (Burr's  ancient  friend  and  ally,  and  then  commanding  the  depart 
ment  of  Louisiana)  a  cipher  letter,  purporting  to  be  from  Burr  to  him 
(Wilkinson),  proposing  that  he  should  use  the  army  under  his  command 
to  provoke  a  war  with  Spain,  and  also  hinting  at  the  erection  of  a  great 
Southern  empire.  This  letter,  grossly  exaggerated  and  altered  as  it  was, 
was  accompanied  by  such  representations  from  Wilkinson  as  to  raise  in 
the  mind  of  the  President  the  direst  visions  of  treasons  and  stratagems  ; 
his  action  on  re'ceipt  oijt  was  that  of  a  man  bereft  of  sober  judgment,  for 
nothing  could  be  more  absurd  than  to  suppose  that  so  shrewd  and  politic 
a  man  as  Aaron  Burr  would  entertain  for  a  moment  the  project  of  sedu-  4 
cing  from  its  allegiance  the  great  West,  then  the  stronghold  of  republican 
ism  and  devotedly  attached  to  the  administration.  To  the  President  and 
his  Cabinet,  however,  it  was  evident  that  a  heavy  conspiracy  was  already 
on  foot  in  the  West ;  and  on  the  27th  of  November  the  former  issued  a 
proclamation,  declaring  that  unlawful  enterprises  were  under  way  in  the 
Western  States,  and  warning  all  persons  to  withdraw  from  the  same,  un 
der  penalty  of  incurring  prosecution  "with  all  the  rigors  of  the  law." 

We  who  have  been  made  so  familiar  with  treason  that  its  aspect  is  no 
longer  frightful,  can  hardly  realize  the  ominous  and  hateful  sound  of  the 
word  in  1800,  nor  the  excitement  and  fear  which  convulsed  the  country  on 
the  publication  of  the  President's  ridiculous  proclamation.  Latent  patri 
otism  effervesced  and  spent  its  force,  from  lack  of  other  vent,  in  denunci 
ation  of  the  supposed  conspirators.  The  President  sent  a  special  message 
to  Congress  denouncing  Burr  as  a  traitor,  and  asking  for  an  act  to  sus 
pend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  which  was  granted  by  the  Senate  but  re 
jected  by  the  House.  Military  companies  paraded  daily,  and  crowded 
their  offers  of  assistance  upon  the  General  Government ;  forts  and  arse 
nals  were  put  in  warlike  trim,  the  navy  was  strengthened,  and  the  news 
papers  and  the  administration  vied  with  each  other  in  circulating  the 


38  THE  TRUE  AAROJV  BURR. 

wildest  rumors  and  most  palpable  untruths  ;  in  short,  popular  hatred  and 
mistrust  were  brought  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  there  held  suspended— a 
sort  of  moral  avalanche  ready  to  be  hurled  upon  the  luckless  wight  who 
should  be  even  suspected  of  the  odious  crime  of  treason.  Meanwhile 
Colonel  Burr,  a  peaceful  citizen  oF  the  United  States,  was  pursuing  his 
peaceful  and  laudable  schemes  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  The  President's 
proclamation  reached  Blennerhasset's  Island  early  in  December.  On  the 
4th,  Blennerhasset  learned  that  a  detachment  of  militia  from  Wood 
County,  Va.,  would  make  a  descent  on  the  island  the  next  day,  and  cap- 
ture  himself,  the  boats,  stores,  and  all  the  property  of  the  expedition  ; 
and  that  night,  secretly,  with  four  boats  and  thirty  men  hastily  collected, 
he  left  the  island  and  fled  with  his  utmost  speed  down  the  river,  At  the 
mouth  of  the  Cumberland  he  met  his  chief,  and  the  combined  flotilla  pro 
ceeded  on  down  the  Mississippi. 

Had  a  cunning  limner  like  our  Nast  been  present,  he  might  have 
found  material  for  a  dozen  spirited  cartoons  in  this  first  insurrectionary 
expedition  against  the  Government.  There  were  the  flat-boats,  thirteen 
in  number,  borne  by  the  sluggish  current,  and  guided  by  sixty  red-shirted 
backwoodsmen.  Prominent  objects  on  their  decks  were  the  chicken-coops 
and  pig-barracks  with  their  noisy  occupants.  Sacks  of  flour,  barrels  of 
bacon,  and  kiln-dried  corn,  hams,  and  other  munitions  of  war,  with  such 
-^deadly  instruments  as  ploughs,  spades,  hoes,  pots,  skillets  and  the  likp, 
formed  the  bulk  of  the  cargo.  On  lines  stretched  across  the  deck  hung 
seed-ears  and  slices  of  pumpkin  drying  in  the  sun  ;  children  played  un- 
terrified  about  this  grim  array  ;  and  near  at  hand  their  mothers  sewed  and 
gossiped  ;  the  linnet  and  canary  sang  in  their  gilded  cages,  and  the  antics 
of  a  pet  monkey  joined  to  the  strains  of  a  superannuated  banjo  relieved 
the  tedium  of  the  voyage. 

In  this  manner,  day  after  day  the  grim  armament  floated  down  the 
river,  carrying  terror  and  dismay  wherever  it  penetrated.  At  Bayou 
Pierre,  thirty  miles  above  Natchez,  a  crisis  occurred.  The  Natchez 
militia,  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  strong,  hearing  of  Burr's  arrival, 
marched  out  to  meet  him.  Drawing  near  his  encampment,  they  were  re 
inforced  by  a  battalion  of  cavalry,  and,  halting,  sent  a  peremptory  sum- 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURt^  39 

I 

mons  to  Burr  to  surrender.  The  latter  talked  freely  with  the  messengers, 
declared  his  innocence  of  any  treasonable  designs,  and  protested  against 
such  high-handed  and  arbitrary  proceedings.  But  the  officers  persisted 
in  their  demand,  and  at  last  Burr  agreed  to  meet  Governor  Mead  next 
day  and  .surrender  his  entire  force,  with  the  stipulation,  however,  that  he 
should  not  be  handed  over  for  trial  to  the  military  authorities.  He  was 
then  conveyed  to  the  neighboring  town  of  Washington,  a  Grand  Jury  was 
hastily  impanelled,  and  he  was  brought  before  them  for  trial — but  on 
what  charges  ?  The  grand  jury  struggled  with  this  question  for  days,  but:, 
was  unable  to  answer  it  ;  and  a  higher  tribunal  a  few  weeks  later  fared 
no  better ;  but  at  length,  after  numberless  motions  and  discussions  in 
which  Burr  completely  captivated  the  populace  with  his  displays  of  learn 
ing  and  eloquence,  the  grand  jury  returned  that  "on  a  due  investigation 
of  the  evidence  brought  before  them,  Aaron  Burr -has  not  been  guilty  of 
any  crime  or  misdemeanor  against  the  laws  of  the  United  States."  They 
also  went  further,  and  presented  as  a  grievance  "  the  late  military  expedi 
tion,  unnecessarily,  as  they  conceive,  fitted  out  against  the  person  and 
property  of  Aaron  Burr."  They  also  presented  as  a  grievance, 
destructive  of  personal  liberty,  the  late  military  arrests,  made  without 
warrant,  and  as  they  conceive,  without  other  lawful  authority.  Thus 
ended  the  first  attempt  to  indict  Colonel  Burr  for  the  crime  of 
treason. 

He  was  a  free  man  again,  but  not  secure,  for  orders  had  already  been 
issued  by  the  President  "  to  take  the  body  of  Aaron  Burr,  alive  or  dead,  and 
to  confiscate  his  property"  Finding  himself  in  the  power  of  a  military 
despotism,  he  determined  to  escape,  and  crossing  the  Mississippi,  made 
the  best  of  his  way  southward  toward  the  port  of  Pensacola,  where  lay  a 
British  man-of-war  on  which  he  hoped  to  find  refuge. 

Some  days  after  these  events  two  travellers  might  have  been  seen 
descending  a  hill  near  the  residence  of  Colonel  Hinson,  in  the  town  of 
Wakefield,  Alabama  :  these  persons  were  Colonel  Burr  and  his  guide.  At 
the  foot  of  the  hill  they  were  intercepted  by  a  file  of  dragoons  led  by 
Captain  Gaines,  commanding  Fort  Stoddard  near  by.  Captain  Gaines 
rode  forward.  "I  presume,  sir,"  said  he,  "  that  I  have  the  honor  of 


40  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

addressing  Colonel  Burr."  "  I  am  a  traveller  in  the  country,"  replied  the 
person  addressed,  "  and  do  not  recognize  your  right  to  ask  such  a  ques 
tion."  "I  arrest  you  at  the  instance  of  the  Federal  Government,"  was 
Games'  rejoinder.  "  By  what  authority  do  you  arrest  travellers  on  tjie 
highway,  bound  on  their  own  private  business  ?  "  asked  the  stranger.  "  I 
am  an  officer  of  the  army  ;  I  hold  in  my  hands  the  proclamation  of  the 
President  and  Governor  directing  your  arrest,"  was  the  reply.  "  You  are 
a  young  man,  and  may  not  be  aware  of  the  responsibilities  which  result 
from  arresting  travellers,"  said  the  person  addressed.  "I  am  aware  of 
the  responsibility,  but  I  know  my  duty,"  said  Gaines. 

It  was  all  in  vain  that  Colonel  Burr  protested  his  innocence,  declared 
that  all  this  arose  from  the  malevolence  of  his  enemies,  and  pointed 
out  the  liabilities  the  captain  would  incur  by  arresting  'him.  "  My  mind 
is  made  up,"  said  Gaines,  and  the  former  Vice-President  was  arrested 
and  duly  lodged  within  the  walls  of  a  military  fortress. 

For  two  weeks  Colonel  Burr  remained  at  Fort  Stoddard,  then,  in 
charge  of  a  file  of  soldiers  under  command  of  one  Perkins,  he  was  sent 
overland  to  the  city  of  Richmond,  where  the  Government  had  decided  his 
trial  should  take  place.  One  incident  only  of  this  difficult  and  perilous 
journey  shall  be  narrated.  After  the  party  had  passed  the  wilderness  and 
had  come  to  the  outposts  of  civilization,  the  utmost  care  was  taken  to 
•^-prevent  the  prisoner  from  communicating  his  situation  to  his  friends,  and 
through  them  appealing  to  the  civil  authorities  for  relief.  Perkins  had 
carefully  avoided  the  large  towns  in  his  way,  but  while  passing  through 
Chester,  in  South  Carolina,  they  chanced  to  ride  near  a  small  tavern,  in 
front  of  which  quite  a  group  of  citizens  had  collected.  This  was  Burr's 
opportunity,  and  he  embraced  it. 

Suddenly  throwing  himself  from  his  horse,  he  exclaimed  with  a  loud 
voice  :  "  I  am  Aaron  Burr,  under  military  arrest,  and  claim  the  protection 
of  the  civil  authorities  !  "  In  a  moment  Perkins  sprang  to  the  ground 
and  presenting  his  pistols  to  Burr's  head  sternly  ordered  him  to  remount. 
"  I  will  not  !  "  Burr  shouted  defiantly,  whereupon  Perkins,  a  perfect  speci 
men  of  a  backwoodsman,  seized  him  around  the  waist  and  threw  him 
forcibly  into  his  saddle,  a  soldier  then  seized  his  bridle,  and  the  whole 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  41 

cavalcade  swept  off  into  the  forest  before  the  astonished  people  had  time 
to  comprehend  the  situation. 

It  is  said  that  Burr,  thus  a  second  time  kidnapped,  was  almost  wild 
with  excitement.  "  The  indifference  of  the  people,"  says  Mr.  Parton, 
"  the  indignity  he  had  suffered,  the  thought  of  his  innocence  of  any  viola 
tion  of  the  law,  the  triumph  his  enemies  were  about  to  have  over  him,  all 
rushed  into  his  mind,  and  for  the  moment  unmanned  him.  For  the  first 
and  only  time,  amid  all  his  unexampled  misfortunes,  his  iron  fortitude 
forsook  him,  and  he  burst  into  tears." 

This,  however,  lasted  but  a  moment,  then  the  prisoner's  usual  imper 
turbability  of  manner  returned,  and  the  journey  was  finished  as  it  had 
been  conducted,  without  a  murmur  or  word  of  complaint  from  him.  The 
party  arrived  in  Richmond  on  Thursday,  the  26th  of  March,  1807.  On 
Monday  the  prisoner  was  brought  before  Chief-Justice  Marshall  for  ex 
amination  previous  to  commitment,  and  after  three  days  of  argument 
was  committed  for  misdemeanor  only,  the  Judge  leaving  the  charge  of 
treason  to  be  considered  by  the  Grand  Jury. 

He  was  arraigned  before  the  Grand  Jury  May  22,  1807.  Never  be 
fore  or  since,  perhaps,  has  the  country  witnessed  a  trial  of  such  magni 
tude,  conducted  by  such  an  array  of  talent,  and  the  progress  of  which  was 
followed  with  such  intense  interest  by  the  whole  country.  All  the  mag 
nates  of  Virginia,  General  Jackson,  John  Randolph,  Senator  Giles,  dis 
tinguished  public  men,  fair  ladies  without  number,  crowded  the  court-room. 
The  sympathies  of  the  people  of  Richmond,  and  of  the  ladies  especially, 
were  with  the  prisoner,  and  many  expressions  of  sympathy  and  regard 
were  tendered  him  during  his  forced  stay  in  the  city.  Two  judges  con 
ducted  the  trial,  John  Marshall,  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  and 
Cyrus  Griffin,  Judge  of  the  District  Court  of  Virginia.  Burr  was  fortu 
nate  in  his  chief  judge.  "  The  soul  of  dignity  and  honor,"  says  a  contem 
porary,  "  prudent,  courageous,  alive  to  censure,  but  immovably  resolute 
to  do  right,  John  Marshall  was  the  Washington  of  the  bench,  an  honest 
man  and  just  judge."  It  was  to  his  firmness  and  judicial  impartiality  no 
doubt  that  Burr  owed  his  life,  or  at  least,  liberty. 

The  lawyers  employed  were  worthy  of  the  occasion.     Engaged  in  the 


42  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

prosecution,  were  George  Hay,  Monroe's  son-in-law,  William  Wirt,  the 
renowned  orator,  and  Alexander  McRae,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Vir 
ginia.  For  the  defence  appeared  Aaron  Burr,  the  Launcelot  of  this  legal 
tournament  ;  Edmund  Randolph,  Washington's  Attorney-General  and 
Secretary  of  State  ;  Wickham,  called  the  ablest  lawyer  at  the  Richmond 
bar  ;  Luther  Martin  of  Maryland,  Jefferson's  "  Federal  bull-dog  "  ;  and 
Benjamin  Botts  of  Virginia. 

At  the  opening  of  the  trial  it  was  found  that  an  impartial  jury  could 
not  be  obtained.  Of  the  whole  panel  summoned,  all  admitted  that  they 
had  formed  an  opinion  adverse  to  the  prisoner.  "  I  pray  the  court  to 
notice,"  remarked  Burr,  while  the  jurors  were  being  challenged,  "  from 
the  scene  before  us,  how  many  attempts  have  been  made  to  prejudice  my 
cause." 

At  length,  late  in  the  afternoon,  a  jury  was  obtained,  not  one  of  whom 
but  had  admitted  his  conviction  of  the  prisoner's  guilt.  Of  the  trial,  or 
rather  trials,  that  followed,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  speak  in  detail.  A 
report  of  it  was  published  in  two  large  octavo  volumes,  and  may  be 
found  in  any  well-stocked  law  library.  Mr.  Davis  and  Mr.  Parton  also 
give  able  summaries.  The  trial  was  divided  into  two  parts,  one  before 
the  grand  jury  on  a  motion  for  a  commitment  of  the  prisoner  on  a  charge 
of  treason,  the  other  was  the  trial  for  treason  itself  after  a  true  bill  had 
been  found.  Between  the  two  was  an  interval  of  some  six  weeks. 

The  trial  was  opened  by  Colonel  Burr,  who  addressed  the  court,  as  to 
the  admissibility  of  certain  evidence  which  he  supposed  would  be  offered. 
Hay  replied,  "hoping  the  court  would  grant  no  special  indulgence  to 
Colonel  Burr,  who  stood  on  the  same  footing  as  any  other  man  who  had 
committed  a  crime."  "Would  to  God,"  was  the  retort  of  Burr,  "that  I 
did  stand  on  the  same  footing  with  any  other  man.  This  is  the  first 
time  I  have  been  permitted  to  enjoy  the  rights  of  a  citizen.  How  have  I 
been  brought  hither  ? " 

In  the  speech  that  followed,  he  made  many  other  strong  points,  and 
eminently  Burrian  ;  but  the  strongest,  and  that  which  most  thoroughly 
demoralized  the  prosecution,  was  the  stand  taken  in  the  very  first  stages 
of  the  trial,  that  before  any  evidence  as  to  the  prisoner's  guilt  could  be 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  43 

admitted,  the  actot  treason  must  first  be  proved,  just  as  it  would  be  mani 
festly  absurd  to  indict  a  man  for  murder  until  the  fact  of  the  killing  was 
first  established.  In  the  course  of  the  argument  on  this  point,  Mr.  Botts 
defined  in  a  masterly  manner,  the  act  of  treason.  "  First,"  said  he,  "  it 
must  be  proved  that  there  was  an  actual  war  ;  a  war  of  acts  and  not  of 
intentions.  Secondly,  the  prisoner  must  be  proved  to  have  committed  an 
overt  act  in  that  war.  Thirdly,  the  overt  act  must  be  proved  to  have  been 
committed  in  the  district  where  the  trial  takes  place.  Fourthly,  the  overt 
act  must  be  proved  by  two  witnesses,"  and  this  view  of  the  crime  of 
treason  was  sustained  by  the  court. 

The  prosecution  could  not  conceal  the  dismay  and  confusion  which 
this  decision  caused  in  their  ranks.  To  prove  the  prisoner's  guilt,  they 
had  relied  chiefly  on  ex  parte  evidence,  suspicious  acts,  the  prisoner's  acts, 
and  his  own  unguarded  words.  Now  they  were  forced  to  go  back  of  all 
this,  and  before  a  syllable  of  evidence  in  regard  to  the  prisoner  or  his  acts 
could  be  admitted,  must  prove  the  fact  that  actual  war  had  been  levied 
against  the  United  States.  However,  gallantly  recovering  from  this  con- 
tretemps,  they  at  once  set  to  work  to  establish  the  overt  act.  Wilkinson 
was  sent  for  from  New  Orleans,  General  Eaton  brought  from  New  Jer 
sey,  and  the  Morgans  from  Kentucky.  Hardly  a  person  that  had  written 
or  spoken  to  Colonel  Burr  during  the  past  two  years  but  was  brought  to 
the  witness  stand,  in  the  effort  to  prove  that  war  had  actually  been  levied 
against  the  United  States.  Even  post  offices  were  broken  open  and  rifled 
of  his  papers  ;  it  was  all  in  vain,  however  ;  no  war  was  to  be  found,  or  as 
Colonel  Burr  pithily  expressed  it  in  a  speech  to  the  court  on  the  third  day 
of  the  trial  :  "  Our  President  is  a  lawyer  and  a  great  one  too.  He  cer 
tainly  ought  to  know  what  it  is  that  constitutes  a  war.  Six  months  ago  he 
proclaimed  that  there  was  a  civil  war,  and  yet  for  six  months  have  they 
been  hunting  for  it,  and  still  cannot  find  one  spot  where  it  existed.  There 
was,  to  be  sure,  a  most  terrible  war  in  the  newspapers,  but  nowhere  else. 
When  I  appeared  before  the  grand  jury  in  Kentucky,  they  had  no  charge 
to  bring  against  me.  When  I  appeared  for  a  second  time  before  a  grand 
jury  in  the  Mississippi  territory,  there  was  nothing  to  appear  against  me, 
and  the  Judge  even  told  the  United  States  Attorney,  that  if  he  did  riot  send 


Ml 


44  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

up  the  bill  before  the  grand  jury,  he  himself  would  proceed  to  name  as  many 
witnesses  as  he  could  and  bring  it  before  the  court.  Still  there  was  no 
proof  of  war.  At  length,  however,  the  Spaniards  invaded  our  territory, 
and  yet  there  was  no  war.  But,  sir,  if  there  was  a  war,  certainly  no  man 
can  pretend  to  say  that  the  Government  is  able  to  find  it  out.  The  scene 
to  which  they  have  now  hunted  it  is  only  three  hundred  miles  distant, 
and  still  there  is  no  evidence  to  prove  this  war."  . 

At  length,  after  thirty-three  days  of  argument,  the  grand  jury  brought 
in  an, indictment  against  Aaron  Burr  for  treason,  and  also  an  indictment. 
I  for  misdemeanor.  Blennerhasset  was  also  indicted  for  the  same  offences. 
The  trial  for  treason  began  on  the  3d  of  August;  the  same  judges  and 
counsel  were  in  attendance.  Here  the  same  difficulty  was  experienced  in 
securing  an  impartial  jury.  Fourteen  days  weje  spent  in  the  effort.  Of 
the  first  venire  of  48,  but  four  were  found-  unprejudiced  ;  of  a  second 
venire  of  48  summoned,  all  admitted  that  they  had  formed  opinions  un 
favorable  to  the  prisoner.  The  defence  even  moved  to  quash  the  trial  on 
the  ground  that  an  impartial  jury  could  not  be  obtained.  The  matter  was 
at  length  compromised  by  allowing  the  defence  to  choose  eight  from  the 
venire  last  summoned,  which,  added  to  the  four  chosen  from  the  first, 
made  up  the  required  number. 

The  second  trial  was  in  many  respects  a  repetition  -of  the  first.  The 
witnesses  chiefly  relied  on  to  prove  the  overt  act  were  General  Eaton,  an 
old  army  officer,  the  Morgans,  and  General  Wilkinson. 

Eaton  and  the  Morgans  gave  an  exaggerated  account  of  Burr's  wild 
talk  of  severing  the  Union — words  that  he  certainly  would  never  have 
uttered  had  he  really  entertained  such  designs.  Wilkinson  produced  the 
famous  cipher  letter,  which  had  raised  the  tempest,  but  which  proved 
nothing,  except  that  the  two  men  had  had  a  prior  agreement  as  to  certain 
objects  to  be  attained.  It  should  be  remarked  here  that  Wilkinson  by  his 
own  confession  was  a  perjurer  as  well  as  a  traitor.  At  the  trial  he  swore 
that  the  letter  produced  was  the  one  received  from  Burr  and  unaltered '; 
afterward  he  admitted  that  he  had  made  some  slight  alterations  in  it. 
Burr  declared  after  the  trial,  that  thirty  of  the  fifty  witnesses  examined 
had  perjured  themselves.  On  the  2pth  of  August,  the  debate  was  con- 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 


45 


eluded  by  Mr.  Randolph.  On  the  soth,  the  judge  delivered  his  charge.  > 
On  the  3ist  the  jury  brought  in  their  verdict— the  most  irregular  aiyd 
cowardly  ever  returned  by  an  American  jury.  "  We  of  the  jury,"  so  the 
verdict  ran,  "say  that  Aaron  Burr  is  not  proved  to  be  guilty  under  the 
indictment  by  any  evidence  submitted  jo  us.  We  therefore  find  him  not 
guilty'."  It  was  the  Scotch  verdict  of  not  prwen,  and  was  designed  to 
fasten  still  more  firmly  in  the  minds,  of  the  people  conviction  of  the  ' 
prisoner's  guilt.  Scarcely  was  the  reading  of  the  verdict  concluded  when 
Colonel  Burr  was  on  his  feet  vehemently  protesting  against  such  a  verdict, 
and  it  was  only  after  a  spirited  debate  that  he  succeeded  in  having  it  entered 
as  simply  "not  guilty."  On  the  trial  for  misdemeanor  he  was  also  acquitted. 

This  ended  the  matter.  Of  all  the  cases  of  political  persecution  in 
this  country,  from  Matthew  Lyon  and  Judge  Chase  to  Andrew  Johnson 
and  James  G.  Blaine,  Aaron  Burr's  was  the  saddest,  most  causeless,  and 
most  disgraceful  of  all.  For  here  it  was  not  only  sought  to  hang  an  in 
nocent  man  in  order  to  remove  a  political  rival,  but  the  ineffaceable 
stigma  of  traitor  was  to  be  placed  upon  his  name  and  memory  ;  and  that 
man  a  citizen  of  the  greatest  eminence,  who  had  fought  in  the  war  which 
made  the  Nation  possible,  and  who  had  been  elected  to  the  second  highest 
office  in  the  gift  of  the  people. 

Imagination  can  scarcely  conceive  what  Mexico  would  have  been  to 
day  had  Burr  been  suffered  to  carry  out  his  plans.  Liberal  and  progres 
sive,  he  would  have  made  education  universal ;  art  and  science  would 
have  flourished  as  never  before  ;  her  mines  would  have  been  developed, 
and  their  vast  treasures  spent  in  the  construction  of  public  works,  the 
encouragement  of  learning,  and  the  glory  of  the  State.  We  should  have 
read,  too,  the  riddle  of  her  marvellous  history,  for  the  world's  poets  and 
scholars,  uncovering  her  monuments  and  penetrating  her  secret  cloisters, 
would  have  unearthed  the  wealth  of  hieroglyphic  and  manuscript  there 
hidden,  and  have  given  us  the  epic  of  lost  Atlantis,  tragedies  more  thrill 
ing  and  romantic  than  have  ever  been  written,  and  the  history  of  that 
mysterious  Mayan  race  which  constructed  an  empire  of  civilization  that 
was  finished  and  mature  when  our  oldest  political  systems  were  in  the 
weakness  of  infancy. 


46  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

Aaron  Burr  was  bankrupt  in  fortune,  friends  and  reputation.  His 
position  in  the  land  for  which  he  had  done  and  suffered  so  much  had  be 
come  unendurable.  The  Government  still  breathed  out  threatenings 
against  him,  and  the  belief  of  his  guilt  was  firmly  fixed  in  the  minds  of 
the  people.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  nothing  but  time  and  Almighty 
power  can  remove  a  popular  prejudice.  Burr  was  too  wise  to  attempt  it ; 
he  did  better,  he  left  it  behind  him.  Early  in  June,  1808,  threatened  with 
a  second  arrest  by  the  Government,  he  sailed  in  disguise  under  the  name 
of  Edwards,  in  the  British  mail-packet  Clarissa  bound  from  New  York  to 
Liverpool.  The  Clarissa  left  port  on  the  pth  of  June,  and  on  the  i4th  of 
July  she  arrived  at  Liverpool. 

Of  Colonel  Burr's  four  years'  wandering  in  the  Old  World,  we  cannot 
speak  with  any  degree  of  particularity.  He  remained  in  England  nearly 
a  year,  or  until  April,  1809  ;  then,  induced  by  the  representations  of  the 
American  Minister,  Lord  Liverpool  addressed  him  a  polite  note,  which 
stated  that  the  presence  of  Colonel  Burr  in  Great  Britain  was  embarrassing 
to  his  Majesty's  Government,  and  that  it  was  the  wish  and  expectation  of 
the  Government  that  he  should  remove.  Burr,  who  had  been  dined  and 
feted  by  most  of  the  literary  and  society  magnates  of  London,  had  visited 
the  tomb  of  Shakespeare  and  travelled  about  the  kingdom  as  far  as  to 
Edinburgh,  was  quite  ready  to  make  his  Majesty's  mind  easy  by  leaving 
the  inhospitable  isle  ;  and  accordingly  on  the  24th  of  April,  1809,  sailed 
for  Gottenburg  in  Sweden,  not  deeming  it  safe  at  that  time  to  visit  France. 
He  remained  in  Sweden  five  months,  enjoying  Swedish  hospitality  to  the 
full,  and  received  as  a  distinguished  guest  even  by  royalty  itself.  Late  in 
October  he  set  out  with  two  'companions,  Americans,  for  Paris.  The 
party  proceeded  by  easy  stages  to  Elsinore,  from  Elsinore  to  Copenhagen, 
and  from  thence  to  Hamburg,  on  the  confines  of  French  territory.  Here 
.they  waited  for  passports  to  the  French  capital. 

While  detained  at  Hamburg  he  made  a  short  excursion  into  Germany, 
visiting  Hanover,  Gottingen,  Weimar,  Frankfort,  and  other  places.  At 
Weimar  he  met  Goethe,  Wieland,  the  Baroness  de  Stein,  and  other  eminent 
persons.  Returning  to  Mayence,  where  the  passports  were  to  be  sent,  he 
waited  a  few  weeks  until  they  arrived,  and  then  proceeded  without  further 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  47 

incident  to  Paris.  In  Paris  Colonel  Burr  lived  fifteen  months  ;  the  last 
ten  months  spent  in  trying  to  get  away,  for  Jefferson  had  now  become  a 
private  citizen,  and  the  thought  would  obtrude  itself  that  he  might  return 
in  safety  to  his  native  land. 

But  the  representations  of  the  American  Minister  had  made  him  an 
object  of  suspicion  to 'the  French  Government,  and  he  was  refused  permis-l 
sion  to  leave  the  country.  At  length,  however,  in  July,  1811,  the  Govern 
ment  was  induced  to  remove  its  surveillance,  and  wringing  a  reluctantly 
given  passport  from  the  American  charge"  d'affaires,  through  an  accidental 
acquaintance  with  some  of  that  gentleman's  doubtful  transactions,  he  be 
took  himself  to  Amsterdam,  where  lay  the  Vigilant,  Captain  Combes,  and 
about  to  sail  for  America.  The  captain,  a  gallant,  generous  son  of  the 
sea,  gladly  gave  the  ex-Vice-President  passage,  and  on  the  ist  of  October, 
1811,  Aaron  Burr  bade  adieu  forever,  and  we  may  imagine  without  regret, 
to  the  continent  of  Europe.  But  outside  the  harbor  a  crushing  misfor 
tune  awaited  him,  for  the  Vigilant  was  set  upon  by  a  British  cruiser  and 
carried  into  the  English  harbor  of  Yarmouth,  and  held  as  a  prize,  subject 
to  the  decision  of  the  admiralty.  Burr  at  once  proceeded  to  London  and 
there  remained  six  months  awaiting  an  opportunity  to  return  to  America. 
Few  vessels  were  then  sailing,  and  the  captains  of  those  that  were  were 
easily  persuaded  by  the  American  consul  to  refuse  him  a  passage.  At 
length,  however,  he  found  a  Captain  Potter,  of  the  ship  Aurora,  who  agreed 
to  land  him  in  Boston  for  the  sum  of  thirty  pounds. 

Burr  again  paid  his  passage  money,  received  his  passports  from  the 
British  Government,  now  all  friendliness,  and  five  weeks  thereafter  was 
safe  in  Boston  Harbor.     A  month  later,  in  May,  1812,  the  second  war 
with  Great  Britain  was  declared,  and  the  Atlantic  became  a  dangerous  / 
highway  for  American  vessels. 

With  the  return  of  Colonel  Burr  to  his  native  country  ends  our  brief 
rtsumt  of  his  public  career.  The  story  of  the  remaining  twenty- five  years 
of  his  life  is  a  pitiful  one, — a  mere  record  of  slights  and  scorns, — a  con 
tinued  kicking  of  a  man  who  was  down,  by  the  Philistines  of  the  day. 

Immediately  on  his  return  he  opened  a  law-office  in  New  York,  and 
much  of  his  former  business  returned  to  him,  but  he  never  regained  his 


48  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

social  or  political  status  ;  and  he  never  sought  to  regain  it.  Conscious~of 
*  the  injustice  done  him,  and  retaining  his  pride  of  character  to  the  last,  he 
disdained  to  make  explanations,  and  repaid  scorn  for  scorn,  and  contempt 
with  indifference.  But  to  the  few  friends  who  remained  faithful,  he  was 
the  same  brilliant,  genial,  fascinating  man  as  of  old,  and  these  he  was 
wont  to  entertain  for  hours,  when  off  duty,  with  vivid  descriptions  of  the 
men  and  things  of  a  former  generation,  interspersed  with  brilliant  anec 
dotes,  and  profound  observations  on  pending  issues  in  politics  and  state 
craft.  Nothing,  it  is  said,  could  be  more  valuable  and  interesting  than 
these  recollections,  and  it  is  to  the  incalculable  loss  of  American  literature 
that  they  were  not  preserved  in  print.  Burr  did  entertain  such  a  project 
at  one  time,  and  would  probably  have  carried  it  out  but  for  the  loss  of 
his  most  valuable  papers  in  the  same  shipwreck  that  bereft  him  of  his  / 
daughter  and  rendered  him  dead  to  ambition  or  any  worldly  interest. 

Before  passing  to  narrate  the  closing  scenes  of  his  life,  a  few  notes  as 
to  the  appearance,  character,  and  habits  of  our  distinguished  subject  will 
be  thought  necessary  and  interesting.  A  writer  in  the  New  York  Leader 
thus  describes  him  as  he  appeared  in  the  later  years  of  life  : 

"  I  knew  him  personally,  from  my  boyhood,  and  saw  him  often  in  the 
quiet  scenes  of  domestic  life,  in  the  house  of  a  gentleman  who  was  always 
his  friend.  His  personal  appearance  was  peculiar.  Under  the  medium 
height,  his  figure  was  well  proportioned,  sinewy  and  elastic,  appearing  in 
every  movement  to  be  governed  more  by  the  mental  than  mere  physical 
attributes.  His  head  was  not  large,  but,  as  phrenologists  say,  well  pro 
portioned.  His  forehead  was  high,  protruding,  but  narrow  directly  over 
the  eyes,  and  widening  immediately  back.  The  head  was  well,  even 
classically,  poised  upon  the  shoulders  ;  his  feet  and  hands  were  peculiarly 
small ;  the  nose  rather  large,  with  open,  expanding  nostrils  ;  and  the  ears 
so  small  as  almost  to  be  a  deformity.  But  the  feature  which  gave  char 
acter  and  tone  to  all,  and  which  made  his  presence  felt,  was  the  eye. 
Perfectly  round,  not  large,  deep  hazel  in  color,  it  had  an  expression  which 
no  one  who  had  seen  it  could  ever  forget.  No  man  could  stand  in  the 
presence  of  Col.  Burr,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  him,  and  not  feel  that  they 
pierced  his  innermost  thoughts.  There  was  a  power  in  his  look — a  mag- 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  4g 

netism,  if  I  may  be  allowed  the  expression, — which  few  persons  could  resist. 

The  expression  of  his  face  when  I  knew  him,— it  was  first  in  1823, 

bore  in  repose  a  sad  and  melancholy  air,  yet  the  features  were  mobile,  and 
when  addressing  ladies,  uttering  some  pleasantry  or  witticism,  the  smile 
around  his  mouth  was  literally  beautiful,  and  his  eyes  would  lose  their 
piercing  look,  and  become  tender  and  gentle.  His  voice  was  not  power 
ful,  but  round,  full,  and  crisp,  and  though  never  loud,  was  tender  or  im 
pressive  as  the  case  required.  His  elocution  in  conversation  was  perfect, 
always  precisely  suited  to  the  occasion. and  -the  style  of  thought  to  which 
he  was  giving  expression.  His  language  was  terse,  almost  epigrammati- 
cal,  and  he  rarely  indulged  in  illustration  or  metaphor  ;  his  words  were 
always  the  most  apt  that  could  be  used,  and  he  had  command  of  a 
vocabulary  which  would  make  Roguet  of  the  Thesaurus  envious.  His 
manners  were  polished,  his  motions  graceful  and  easy,  yet  he  never  for  a 
moment  lost  his  noble  and  dignified  bearing.  In  mere  physical  beauty, 
in  elegance  of  face  or  figure,  in  brilliancy  of  the  eye,  I  have  seen  many 
men  superior  to  Col.  Burr,  but  in  a  bearing  and  presence  which  you  felt 
to  be  something  beyond  other  men,  with  character  in  every  motion  and 
expression,  in  a  life  of  over  forty  years,  and  after  seeing  all  the  great 
men  of  the  country  during  that  period,  I  have  never  seen  his  peer.  He 
wore  his  hair — which  till  quite  late  in  life  was  long  and  thick,  excepting 
on  the  front  of  the  head, — massed  up  on  the  top  held  by  a  small  shell 
comb,  the  whole  head  profusely  powdered.  .  .  .  His  usual  dress  was 
a  single  blue-breasted  coat,  with  standing  collar,  a  buff  vest,  and  dark 
pants  ;  in  winter  he  wore  a  fur  cap  and  buckskin  mittens." 

In  regard  to  the  character  of  Colonel  Burr,  the  verdict  of  the  honest 
and  intelligent  student  of  his  career  will  be  much  more  favorable  than  is 
the  popular  judgment.  Of  him  it  may  be  said  more  truly  than  of  any 
other,  that  circumstances  made  him  bad  wherein  he  was  bad,  and  that  / 
party  rancor  and  sectarian  bigotry  painted  the  portrait  which  has  come 
down  to  posterity.  In  proof  of  the  truth  of  these  assertions  I  will  present 
a  paper  which  was  read  by  Judge  John  Greenwood,  of  Brooklyn,  before 
the  Long  Island  Historical  Society,  begging  the  reader  to  observe  that 
the  author's  intimate  acquaintance  with  Colonel  Burr,  his  thorough 


50  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

integrity  and  judicial  training,  render  his  judgment  unassailable,  whereas 
the  idle  and  vicious  tales  from  which  the  adverse  judgment  has  been 
formed  are  without  parentage  and  cannot  be  substantiated  by  any  proof 
that  would  be  received  in  a  court  of  law.  The  italics  in  the  paper  are 
our  own.  They  mark  the  passages  which  treat — very  delicately  and  yet 
very  satisfactorily — of  Colonel  Burr's  relations  with  women,  and  make 
further  remark  on  the  subject  unnecessary,  except  to  say  that  all  with 
whom  the  writer  has  conversed,  and  who  were  from  their  position  best 
calculated  to  judge,  take  substantially  the  same  view  of  the  case  as  that 
expressed  by  Judge  Greenwood.  The  paper  is  given  nearly  entire  : 

"As  to  Col.  Burr  I  enjoyed  peculiar  advantages  of  knowledge,  having 
been,  for  a  period  of  about  six  years,  namely,  from  about  1814  to  1820,  a 
clerk  and  student  in  his  office,  and  in  constant  intercourse  with  him,  and 
this  at  a  period  of  my  life  when  the  strongest  impressions  were  likely  to 
be  made  upon  me.  The  dark  side  of  Col.  Burr's  character  has  been  very 
often  presented,  and  it  is  unnecessary  that  I  should  make  another  exhibi 
tion  of  it.  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  be  able  to  bring  into  the  light,  features 
upon  which  it  is  more  agreeable  to  dwell,  and  some  of  which,  indeed,  may 
be  contemplated  with  advantage.  Let  me  speak  first  of  his  temperance 
in  eating  and  drinking.  It  would  be  natural  to  suppose  that  a  man  some 
what  unrestricted,  as  it  must  be  admitted  he  was,  in  one 'respect  which 
may  be  regarded  as  in  some  degree  correlative,  would  not  be  very  much 
restrained  in  the  indulgences  of  the  table.  But  the  fact  is  otherwise.  His 
diet  was  very  light :  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  roll,  with  but  seldom  the  addi 
tion  of  an  egg,  and  never  of  meat  or  fish,  constituted  his  breakfast.  His 
dinner,  in  a  majority  of  cases,  consisted  of  roasted  potatoes,  seasoned  with 
a  little  salt  and  butter,  or  perhaps  of  some  thickened  milk  (called  some 
times  '  bonny  clabber  ')  sweetened  with  sugar.  A  cup  of  black  tea  with  a 
slice  of  bread  and  butter  was  the  last  meal ;  and  these  constituted  as  a 
general  thing  his  whole  sustenance  for  twenty-four  hours.  The  excep 
tion  was  when  some  friend  was  invited  by  him  to  dinner.  He  was  very 
fond,  when  seated  at  table,  of  having  his  favorite  cat  near  him,  and  it  was 
a  pleasant  thing  to  see  puss  sit  on  the  arm  of  his  chair  and  keep  him  com 
pany.  As  to  spirituous  liquors,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  from  per- 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  51 

sonal  knowledge,  that  he  never  used  them.  His  usual  beverage  was 
claret  and  water,  sweetened  with  loaf  sugar.  His  wine  he  bought  by  the 
cask,  and  had  bottled  at  his  residence.  The  result  of  his  abstemious 
course  of  living  was,  that  he  enjoyed  uniform  good  health,  which  was 
seldom,  if  ever,  interrupted. 

"  His  industry  was  of  the  most  remarkable  character.  Indeed  it  may 
with  truth  be  said  that  he  never  was  idle.  He  was  always  employed  in 
some  way,  and  what  is  more,  required  every  one  under  him  to  be  so. 
Sometimes  in  coming  through  the  office,  and  observing  that  I  was  not  at 
work,  as  I  might  not  have  been  for  the  moment,  he  would  say,  *  Master 
John,  can't  you  find  something  to  do  ? '  although  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no 
clerk  in  an  office  was  ever  more  constantly  worked  than  I  was. 

"  He  would  rise  at  an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  devote  himself  to  the 
business  of  the  day — for  he  had  a  large  general  practice — and  usually  re 
tired  to  rest  not  sooner  than  twelve,  or  half-past  twelve  at  night.  In  this 
way  he  would  accomplish  a  vast  amount  of  work.  His  perseverance  and 
indefatigability,  too,  were  strikingly  characteristic.  No  plan  or  purpose 
once  formed  was  abandoned,  and  no  amount  of  labor  could  discourage 
him  or  cause  him  to  desist.  To  begin  a  work  was,  with  him,  to  finish  it. 
How  widely,  in  this  respect,  he  differed  from  some  professional  men  of 
his  own  and  the  present  day,  I  need  hardly  say.  I  could  recur  to  some, 
greatly  his  juniors  in  years,  who  were  and  are  his  very  opposites  in  this 
respect.  He  was  for  having  a  thing  done,  too,  as  soon  as  it  could  be, 
and  not,  as  some  have  supposed,  for  seeing  how  long  it  could  be  put  off 
before  it  was  begun. 

"  But  I  must  say  a  word  of  his  manner  in  court.  He  seemed  in  the 
street  and  everywhere  in  public,  to  be  strongly  conscious  that  he  was  a 
mark  of  observation,  not  indeed  in  the  sense  in  which  Hamlet  is  spoken 
of  as  "the  observed  of  all  observers,"  but  as  an  object,  to  some,  of 
curiosity,  to  others,  of  hostile  or  suspicious  regard.  Carrying  this  feeling 
into  the  court-room  his  manner  was  somewhat  reserved,  though  never 
submissive,  and  he  used  no  unnecessary  words.  He  would  present  at 
once  the  main  points  of  his  case,  and  as  his  preparation  was  thorough,  | 
would  usually  be  successful.  But  he  was  not  eloquent.  If  he  thought 


52  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

his  dignity  assailed  in  any  manner,  even  inferentially,  his  rebuke  was 
withering  in  the  cutting  sarcasm  of  its  few  words,  and  the  lightning  glance 
of  his  terrible  eyes,  which  few  could  withstand.  I  may  say  in  this  con 
nection,  that  his  self-possession,  under  the  most  trying  circumstances, 
was  wonderful,  and  that  he  probably  never  knew  what  it  was  to  fear  a 
human  being. 

"  If  there  was  anything  which  Burr's  proud  spirit  supremely  despised, 
it  was  a  mean,  prying  curiosity.  He  early  inculcated  on  me  the  lesson 
never  to  read  even  an  opened  letter  addressed  to  another,  which  might 
be  lying  in  my  way,  and  never  to  look  over  another  who  was  writing  a 
letter.  It  was  one  of  my  duties  to  copy  his  letters,  and  I  shall  never 
forget  the  withering  and  indignant  look  which,  on  one  occasion,  he  gave 
to  a  person  in  the  office  who  endeavored  to  see  what  I  was  copying. 
Neither  would  he  tolerate  any  impertinent  gazing  or  staring  at  him,  as  if 
to  spy  out  his  secret  thoughts  and  reflections. 

"  You  will  be  glad  to  hear  me  say  something  of  his  very  fascinating 
powers  in  conversation.  It  may  seem  strange,  if  not  incredible,  that  a 
man  who  had  passed  through  such  vicissitudes  as  he  had,  and  who  must 
have  had  such  a  crowd  of  early  and  pressing  memories  on  his  mind, 
should  be  able  to  preserve  a  uniform  serenity  and  even  cheerfulness,  but 
such  is  the  fact. 

"  His  manners  were  easy  and  his  carriage  graceful,  and  he  had  a 
winning  smile  in  moments  of  pleasant  intercourse  that  seemed  almost  to 
charm  you.  He  would  laugh,  too,  sometimes,  as  if  his  heart  was 
bubbling  with  joy,  and  its  effect  was  irresistible.  Nobody  could  tell  a 
story  or  an  anecdote  better  than  he  could,  and  nobody  enjoyed  it  better 
than  he  did  himself.  His  maxim  was  suaviter  in  modo,  fortiter  in  re.  Yet,, 
where  spirit  and  a  determined  manner  were  required,  probably  no  man 
ever  showed  them  more  effectively.  Although  comparatively  small  in 
person,  and  light  in  frame,  I  have  seen  him  rebuke,  and  put  to  silence, 
men  of  position  in  society  greatly  his  superiors  in  physical  strength,  who 
were  wanting  in  respect  in  their  language  towards  him. 

"  Colonel  Burr  was  a  social  man,  that  is,  he  liked  the  company  of  a 
friend  and  would  spend  a  half  hour  in  conversation  with  him  very  agree- 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 


53 


ably.  Occasionally  one  with  whom  he  had  been  on  intimate  terms,  and 
who  had  shared  his  adventures,  like  Samuel  Swartwout,  or  William 
Hosack,  would  call  and  have  a  pleasant  time.  Dr.  W.  J.  McNevin  was 
also  intimate  with  him.  He  was  very  fond  of  young  company.  Children 
were  delighted  with  him.  He  not  only  took  an  interest  in  their  sports, 
but  conciliated  them,  and  attached  them  to  him  by  presents.  The  latter, 
I  may  observe,  was  also  one  of  his  modes  of  pleasing  the  more  mature  of 
the  gentler  sex. 

"  He  was  very  fond  of  alluding  to  events  in  his  military  life.  Indeed 
I  think  he  chiefly  prided  himself  upon  his  military  character.  His 
counsel  was  much  sought  by  foreigners  engaged  in  revolutionary  enter 
prises,  who  happened  to  be  in  New  York,  and  during  the  period  of  the 
revolution  in  Caraccas,  Generals  Carrera  and  Ribas,  who  took  part  in  it, 
and  during  its  existence  visited  New  York,  were  on  very  intimate  terms 
with  him.  The  former  was  a  gentleman  of  great  talent  but  of  modest  and 
retired  bearing. 

"  There  are  some  who  suppose  that  Colonel  Burr  had  no  virtues. 
This  is  a  mistake.  He  was  true  in  his  friendships,  and  would  go  any 
length  to  serve  a  friend,  and  he  had  also  the  strongest  affections.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  incidents  concerning  the  loss  of  his  daughter  Theodosia, 
then  wife  of  Governor  Allston  of  South  Carolina.  Soon  after  Colonel 
Burr's  return  from  Europe  to  New  York,  he  arranged  for  her  to  come  on 
and  visit  him,  and  she  set  out,  as  is  known,  from  Georgetown  in  a  small 
schooner,  called  the  Patriot.  Timothy  Green,  a  retired  lawyer  in  New 
York,  a  most  worthy  man,  and  an  old  friend  of  Colonel  Burr,  went  on  by 
land  to  accompany  her.  The  fact  of  the  departure  of  the  vessel,  with  his 
daughter  and  Mr.  Green  on  board,  was  communicated  by  letter  from 
Governor  Allston  to  Colonel  Burr,  and  he  looked  forward  with  anticipa 
tions  of  joy  to  the  meeting  which,  after  so  many  years  of  separation,  was 
to  take  place  between  himself  and  his  dear  child.  A  full  time  for  the 
arrival  of  the  vessel  at  New  York  elapsed,  but  she  did  not  come.  As  day 
after  day  passed  and  still  nothing  was  seen  or  heard  of  the  vessel  or  of 
his  daughter,  that  face  which  had  before  shown  no  gloom  or  sadness, 
began  to  exhibit  the  signs  of  deep  and  deeper  concern.  Every  means 


54  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

was  resorted  to  to  obtain  information,  but  no  tidings  were  ever  heard  of 
the  vessel  or  of  her  upon  whom  all  the  affection  of  his  nature  had  been 
bestowed.  '  Hope  deferred  '  did  indeed  in  this  case  make  sick  and  nearly 
crush  the  heart.  His  symbol,  which  he  loved  occasionally  to  stamp  upon 
the  seal  of  a  letter,  was  a  rock  in  the  tempest-torn  ocean,  which  neither 
wind  nor  wave  could  move.  But  his  firm  and  manly  nature,  which  no 
danger  or  reverse  nor  any  of  the  previous  circumstances  of  life  had  been 
able  to  shake,  was  near  giving  way.  It  was  interesting,  though  painful,  to 
witness  his  struggle;  but  he  did  rise  superior  to  his  grief  and  the  light  once 
more  shone  upon  his  countenance.  But  it  was  ever  after  a  subdued  light. 

"  Something  will  be  expected  to  be  said  by  me,  with  regard  to  his 
duel  with  Gen.  Hamilton.  So  much  has  been  written  on  this  subject 
already  that  I  can  add  nothing  to  the  history  of  the  transaction.  Every 
one  will  form  an  opinion  for  himself  as  to  who  was  to  blame  in  that  un 
fortunate  affair.  I  will  say,  however,  that  it  was  a  matter  to  which  Col. 
Burr,  from  delicacy,  never  referred.  He  was  no  boaster  and  no  calum 
niator,  and  certainly  he  would  have  no  word  of  censure  for  his  dead 
antagonist.  I  will  relate,  however,  an  anecdote  told  me  by  him,  indicat 
ing  the  degree  of  hostility  felt  towards  him  by  some  after  that  transaction, 
and  at  the  same  time  his  own  intrepidity,  although  to  the  latter  he 
seemed  not  to  attach  the  slightest  importance. 

"  He  was  travelling  in  the  interior  of  the  State,  and  had  reached  a 
country  tavern  where  he  was  to  stay  for  the  night.  He  was  seated  by 
a  table  in  his  room  engaged  in  writing,  when  the  landlord  came  up  and 
announced  that  two  young  men  were  below  and  wished  to  see  him,  and 
added  that  their  manner  seemed  rather  singular.  He  had  heard  that  two 
very  enthusiastic  young  gentlemen  were  on  his  track,  and  he  was  not 
therefore  surprised  at  the  announcement.  Taking  out  his  pistols  and 
laying  them  before  him,  he  told  the  landlord  to  show  them  up.  They 
came  up,  and  as  one  was  about  to  advance  into  his  room  Burr  told  them 
not  to  approach  a  foot  nearer.  Then  addressing  him  he  said :  '  What  is 
your  business  ? '  The  foremost  said:  '  Are  you  Col.  Burr  ?  '  '  Yes,  said 
the  Colonel.  '  Well,'  says  the  young  man,  '  we  have  come  to  take  your 
life,  and  mean  to  have  it  before  we  go  away. '  Upon  this,  Burr,  laying 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  55 

his  hand  upon  one  of  his  pistols,  replied:  '  You  are  brave  fellows,  are 
you  not,  to  come  here  two  of  you  against  one  man  ?  Now,  if  either  of 
you  has  any  courage,  come  out  with  me,  and  choose  your  own  distance, 
and  I  '11  give  you  a  chance  to  make  fame.  But  if  you  don't  accept  this 
proposal,'  bringing  the  severest  glance  of  his  terrible  eyes  to  bear  upon 
them,  '  I  '11  take  the  life  of  the  first  one  of  you  that  raises  his  arm.'  They 
were  both  cowed,  and  walked  off  like  puppies. 

"  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  relate  another  incident  illustrating 
Colonel  Burr's  remarkable  presence  of  mind,  which  occurred  while  he 
was  in  Paris.  He  had  received  a  remittance  of  a  considerable  sum  of 
money,  and  his  valet  formed  a  plan  to  rob  him  of  it  by  coming  upon  him 
unawares  with  a  loaded  pistol.  Burr  was  engaged  in  reading  or  writing 
in  his  room  at  a  late  hour  at  night,  when  the  fellow  entered  with  pistol  in 
hand.  Burr  recognized  him  in  a  moment,  and,  turning  suddenly  around, 
said  to  him  sternly:  '  How  dare  you  come  into  the  room  with  your  hat 
on  ? '  The  valet,  struck  with  sudden  awe  and  the  consciousness  of  hav 
ing  violated  that  decorum  which  had  from  habit  virtually  become  a  part 
of  his  nature,  raised  his  arm  to  take  off  his  hat,  when  Burr  rushed  upon 
him,  tripped  him  down,  wrested  his  pistol  from  him,  and,  calling  for  aid, 
had  him  secured  and  carried  off. 

"  Col.  Burr,  as  is  well  known,  was  what  is  termed  a  good  shot  with  a 
pistol.  To  illustrate  his  skill  in  this  respect  I  will  relate  a  circumstance 
told  me  by  an  old  colored  man  named  '  Harry,'  who  was  in  the  habit, 
while  I  was  with  Col.  Burr,  of  coming  to  his  house  to  clean  his  boots  and 
do  little  jobs.  Harry  had  lived  many  years  with  the  Colonel  while  the 
latter 's  residence  was  at  Richmond  Hill  in  the  upper  part  of  New  York. 
The  Colonel  often  had  dinner  parties,  and  after  dinner  the  gentlemen 
would  go  out  upon  the  back  piazza  to  enjoy  the  air,  and  would  amuse 
themselves  by  firing  with  a  pistol  at  apples  which  Harry  would  throw  up 
for  them.  Said  Harry,  laughing  in  the  way  peculiar  to  an  old  African, 
'  De  Colonel  would  hit  'em  almos  ev'ry  time,  while  de  oder  gentlement 
could  n't  hit  'em  at  all.' 

"The  charge  against  Col.  Burr  of  treason  has  formed  a  prominent 
part  of  his  history.  All  the  facts  developed  on  the  trial  have  been  long 


$6  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

since  published,  and  it  will  not  of  course  be  expected  that  I  should  refer 
to  them.  I  will  say,  however,  that  this  was  a  subject  upon  which  he  was 
always  disposed,  whenever  proper,  to  converse  with  those  who  were  in 
timate  with  him.  I  myself  have  conversed  with  him  upon  it.  He  said 
he  had  been  entirely  misrepresented  and  misunderstood  as  to  the  object 
which  he  had  in  view.  He  had  never,  he  stated,  any  design  hostile  to 
the  United  States  or  any  part  of  it.  His  object  was,  as  he  said,  to  make 
himself  master  of  Mexico  and  place  himself  at  the  head  of  it,  and  if  they 
had  let  him  alone  he  would  have  done  it.  He  seemed  to  entertain  a  great 
contempt  for  Gen.  Wilkinson,  who  was  in  command  at  the  South  at  the 
time,  considering  him  a  very  weak  man. 

"  Colonel  Burr,  like  other  great  men,  had  some  remarkable  eccen 
tricities  of  character.  He  was  very  fond  of  all  sorts  of  inventions,  and 
always  trying  experiments.  He  puzzled  his  brain  for  a  long  time  to  get 
some  motive  power  which  would  avoid  the  necessity  of  using  fire  or 
steam,  of  which  Livingston  and  Fulton  then  held  the  monopoly.  He  had 
models  made,  and  I  also  got  my  ambition  excited  about  it.  But  his 
efforts  and  my  own  philosophical  powers  and  chemical  knowledge  fell 
short,  after  a  hard  trial,  of  accomplishing  the  object.  One  great  end  which 
he  desired  to  attain  in  housekeeping  was  to  save  fuel,  not  money,  and  I 
have  known  him  to  go  to  an  expense,  I  should  judge,  of  forty  or  fifty 
dollars  in  contrivances  to  save  five  dollars  in  the  value  of  wood  consumed. 
He  was  very  liberal  and  even  reckless  in  spending  money  for  certain  pur 
poses,  while  in  others,  such  as  bills  of  mechanics,  he  was  very  particular 
and  scrutinizing.  He  liked  to  have  a  bill  looked  over  very  carefully  and 
reduced  to  as  low  an  amount  as  the  case  would  admit  of,  but  so  far  as  I 
know,  never  practised  any  dishonesty  or  refused  to  pay  any  just  debt 
which  he  had  incurred. 

"  I  have  foreborne  thus  far  to  refer  to  a  matter  connected  with  the 
character  of  Col.  Burr,  and  identified  almost  with  his  name,  and  although 
not  within  the  plan  with  which  I  started  in  this  notice,  I  ought  not,  per 
haps,  to  omit  it.  I  allude  of  course  to  his  gallantries.  This  is  a  topic 
upon  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  speak  with  any  particularity  without 
transcending  that  limit  of  -propriety  within  which  all  public  discussions 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 


57 


should  be  confined.  I  shall,  therefore,  speak  of  it  in  the  most  general 
terms.  7  do  not  believe  that  Col.  Burr  was  any  worse  in  this  respect  than 
many  men  of  his  own  and  of  the  present  day  who  pass  for  better  men. 

'  The  difference  between  them  is,  that  he  was  much  less  disguised 
and  that  he  did  not  pretend  to  be  what  he  was  not.  7  think  he  was  quite 
as  much  sought  after  by  the  other  sex  as  he  was  a  seeker.  There  seemed  in 
deed  to  be  a  charm  and  fascination  about  him  which  continued  to  a  late 
period  of  his  life,  and  which  was  too  powerful  for  the  frail,  and  some 
times  even  for  the  strong,  to  resist.  I  know  that  he  has  been  charged 
with  much  wrong  in  this  respect,  and  it  may  be  with  truth.  I  feel  no 
disposition  to  justify  him  in  his  course,  or  even  to  palliate  what  must  be 
regarded  in  its  best  aspect  as  a  vice.  But  I  have  heard  him  say,  and  if  it 
be  true  it  is  certainly  much  in  his  favor,  that  he  never  deceived  or  made  a 
false  promise  to  a  woman  in  his  life.  This  is  much  more  than  many  can 
say,  who  have  a  much  better  name  than  he  has. 

"  His  married  life  with  Mrs.  Prevost  (who  had  died  before  I  went 
into  his  office)  was  of  the  most  affectionate  character,  and  his  fidelity 
never  questioned.  There  is  another  thing,  too,  which  I  will  add  to  his 
credit.  He  was  always  a  gentleman  in  his  language  and  deportment. 
Nothing  of  a  low,  ribald,  indecent,  or  even  indelicate  character  ever 
escaped  his  lips.  He  had  no  disposition  to  corrupt  others.  One  other 
thing  I  will  add  in  this  connection:  Col.  Burr,  in  everything  relating  to 
business,  and  indeed  in  all  his  epistolary  correspondence  with  men,  had 
a  special  regard  for  the  maxim  that  '  things  written  remain,'  and  was  very 
careful  as  to  what  he  wrote.  But  with  regard  to  the  other  sex,  such  was 
his  confidence  in  them,  that  he  wrote  to  them  with  very  little  restraint. 
.  .  .  I  must  point  you  to  one  admirable  and  strong  characteristic  in 
him.  He  sought  with  young  men,  in  whom  he  felt  an  interest,  to  graft 
them,  as  it  were,  with  his  own  indomitable  will,  energy,  and  perseverance. 
I  can  truly  say  that,  although  I  was  often  overtasked  beyond  my  powers, 
and  even  to  the  injury,  no  doubt,  of  my  health,  so  that  his  course  seemed 
to  me  to  be  over-exacting  and  oppressive,  yet  that  he  constantly  incited 
me  to  progress  in  all  the  various  modes  and  departments  of  mental  cult 
ure,  even  in  music,  the  influence  of  which  he  deemed  of  great  importance, 


58  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

although  he  had  but  little  taste  for,  and  no  knowledge  of  it  himself;  and 
that  my  success  in  life,  as  far  as  I  have  succeeded,  has  been  owing  to  the 
habits  of  industry  and  perseverance  which  were  formed  under  his  training. 
' '  As  to  the  character  of  his  mind,  it  would  be  probably  presumptuous 
in  me  to  attempt  to  analyze  it.  If  I  should  express  an  opinion,  it  would 
be  that  it  was  not  large,  comprehensive,  and  philosophical,  but  rather 
quick,  penetrating,  and  discerning.  He  was  a  shrewd  planner,  and  in 
defatigable  and  persevering  in  carrying  out  his  plans,  although  he  did  not 
always  succeed  in  accomplishing  them.  He  was  a  good  scholar,  ac 
quainted  with  polite  literature,  and  spoke  the  French  and  Spanish — the 
former  fluently.  I  think  his  heart  was  not  in  the  profession  of  the  law, 
and  that  he  followed  it  principally  for  its  gains.  He  was,  however,  a 
good  lawyer,  was  versed  in  the  common,  civil,  and  international  law; 
acquainted  generally  with  the  reports  of  adjudicated  cases,  and  in 
preparing  important  cases  usually  traced  up  the  law  to  its  ancient 
sources.  But  political  and  military  life  seemed  to  interest  him  more  than 
anything  else,  although  he  never  neglected  his  business.  He  prided 
himself  probably  more  upon  his  military  qualities  than  upon  any  other, 
and  if  he  could  have  gratified  his  ambition  by  becoming  Emperor  of 
Mexico  he  would  no  doubt  have  been  in  his  glory." 

The  following  reminiscence  from  a  New  York  newspaper  will  be  found 
interesting:  "  Just  round  the  corner  (from  Broadway)  in  Reade  Street — 
we  believe  on  ground  now  occupied  by  Stewart's — was  the  office,  for 
many  of  the  later  years  of  his  life,  tenanted  by  Aaron  Burr.  We,  when 
a  boy,  remember  seeing  him  there  often.  It  was  a  dark,  smoky,  obscure 
sort  of  a  double-room,  typical  of  his  fortunes.  Burr  had  entirely  lost  caste 
for  thirty  years  before  he  died,  and  whatever  may  be  said  of  his  charac 
ter  and  conduct,  we  think  nothing  can  excuse  the  craven  meanness  of  the 
many,  who,  having  fawned  around  him  in  the  days  of  his  elevation,  de 
serted  and  reviled  him  in  the  aftertime  of  misfortune.  Burr  had  much  of 
the  bad  man  in  him  (faith,  we  'd  like  to  see  the  human  mould  that  has 
not),  but  he  was  dauntless,  intellectual,  and  possessed  the  warm  tempera 
ment  of  an  artist.  Yes,  we  remember  well  that  dry,  bent,  brown-faced 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 


59 


little  old  man,  polite  as  Chesterfield  himself,  that  used  to  sit  by  an  ancient 
baize  table,  in  the  half-light  of  the  dust-covered  room,  there— not  often 
with  work  to  do — indeed  he  generally  seemed  meditating. 

"  We  can  now  understand  it  all,  though  he  seemed  a  strange  person 
age  then.  What  thoughts  must  have  burned  and  whirled  through  that 
old  man's  brain — he,  who  came  within  a  vote  or  two  of  seating  himself  as 
a  successor  of  Washington.  Even  to  our  boyish  judgment  then,  he  was 
invested  with  the  dignity  of  a  historic  theme.  He  had  all  the  air  of  a 
gentleman  of  the  old  school,  was  respectful,  self-possessed,  and  bland,  but 
never  familiar.  He  had  seen  a  hundred  men  morally  as  unscrupulous  as 
himself,  more  lucky,  for  some  reason  or  other,  than  himself.  He  was 
down  ;  he  was  old.  He  awaited  his  fate  with  Spartan  calmness — knowing 
that  not  a  tear  would  fall  when  he  should  be  put  under  the  sod." 

At  my  request,  Mr.  Parton  kindly  transmitted  to  me  the  Burr  papers 
which  had  collected  since  his  work  was  published,  with  full  permission  to 
use  them  as  I  thought  best.  Among  them  I  find  this  interesting  extract, 
from  a  religious  journal,  concerning  Colonel  Burr's  early  education: 

"  The  oldest  son  of  President  Edwards  congratulating  a  friend  on 
having  a  family  of  sons,  said  to  him  with  much  earnestness,  '  Remember 
there  is  but  one  mode  of  family  government.  I  have  brought  up  and 
educated  fourteen  boys,  two  of  whom  I  brought,  or  rather  suffered  to 
grow,  up  without  the  rod.  One  of  these  was  my  youngest  brother,*  and 
the  other  Aaron  Burr,  my  sister's  only  son,  both  of  whom  had  lost  their 
parents  in  childhood,  and  from  my  observation  and  experience,  I  tell 
you,  sir,  a  maple-sugar  government  will  never  answer.  Beware  how  you 
let  the  first  act  of  disobedience  in  your  little  boys  go  unnoticed,  and, 
unless  evidence  of  repentance  be  manifest,  unpunished.'  "  f 

Among  the  papers  above  referred  to  I  also  found  a  letter  from  Colonel 
Burr  to  a  legal  friend  in  New  York,  which,  as  showing  the  sprightliness 
and  vivacity  of  his  spirit,  that  even  age  could  not  tame,  I  feel  moved  to 
produce  here.  It  is  dated  at  Albany,  March  15,  1814. 

*  Pierrepont  Edwards. 

f  This  is  not  in  character  with  what  Colonel  Burr  used  to  relate  as  to  his  uncle's  mode 
of  government,  for  we  have  Burr's  own  testimony  that  on  one  occasion,  at  least,  his  uncle 
"  licked  him  like  a  sack." 


60  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

"  I  pray  you  never  again  to  be  silent,  in  hopes,  etc.  That  apology 
has  been  worn  out  more  than  1000  years  ago;  from  you  something  original 
is  expected.  Letters  which  require  and  deserve  to  be  answered  at  all, 
should  be  answered  immediately.  Your  pleadings,  though  not  very 
technical,  are  in  substance  good  as  to  the  point  charged,  but  not  altogether 
satisfactory  as  to  the  subsequent  period.  Keep  a  better  lookout.  Yes, 
send  copies  of  my  letters  to  Graves  and  Mad.  F.  by  the  Cartel  about  to 
sail  for  Gottenburg.  To  the  letter  of  Mad.  F.  add: 

"  '  P.  S.  lyeme  Mars,  1814, 

"  '  Le  sauvage  est  actuellement  a  cent  lieues  dans  Tinterieure  sur  une 
affaire  tres  inte"ressante  pour  lui  et  pour  A.  H.  C. ;  on  aura  le  resultat  au 
bout  d'un  mois.'  * 

"  Still,  my  dear  John,  I  am  a  sceptic  about  your  health.  You  have 
not  been  pleased  to  name  your  Hippocrate.  I  can  at  this  distance  give 
no  instruction,  other  than  you  observe  a  very  temperate  diet.  About 
three  weeks  ago  I  enclosed  you  twenty  dollars,  /.  e.,  ten  for  Nancy,  and 
ten  for  contingencies,  the  receipt  has  not  been  acknowledged.  I  no 
longer  hear  anything  of  the  employment  of  your  time.  It  is  feared  that 
things  do  not  go  well.  A.  B. " 

From  "  Personal  Recollections  of  Aaron  Burr,"  published  in  a  late 
issue  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial,  I  extract  the  following:  "  I  once 
heard  Hon  Edward  Everett  relate  an  incident  that  occurred  in  Albany  in 
his  presence,  that  forcibly  displayed  his  power  over  minds  the  most 
strongly  biased  against  him.  It  was  immediately  after  his  secret  and  sad 
return  from  Europe.  A  case  of  great  pecuniary  importance,  if  I  remem 
ber  right,  of  the  Van  Rensselaers  against  the  city,  in  which  the  plaintiffs 
had  apparently  made  no  preparations  for  an  advocate,  only  employing  a 
young  lawyer  to  prepare  and  present  the  case.  Surprise  at  this  fact  be 
came  indignation,  when  it  was  whispered  about  that  Aaron  Burr  had 

*  This  "postscript  "  might  be  freely  translated  :  "  The  savage  is  actually  away  a  hun 
dred  miles  in  the  interior,  on  an  affair  very  interesting  to  himself  and  to  A.  H.  C.  ;  one 
may  expect  to  hear  the  result  by  the  end  of  the  month." 

Perhaps  some  one  who  remembers  the  men  and  things  of  that  period  can  tell  us  who 
the  "savage"  and  A.  H.  C.  were. 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  6 1 

returned  from  Europe  and  was  employed  in  the  case.  Such  was  the  in 
dignation  that  court  and  bar  conspired  to  put  him  down  with  coughs, 
hisses,  and  jeers, — that  they  would  not  hear  him, — as  an  advocate  lynch 
him.  The  trial  proceeded,  and  at  the  proper  time  a  side  door  opened, 
and  a  little  figure  walked  silently  in  and  addressed  the  court.  Not  a 
cough,  hiss,  stamp,  scratch  of  a  pen,  or  even  breath,  or  apparently  a 
wink,  disturbed  that  calm  musical  voice  during  a  long  speech,  and  the 
case  was  won." 

Miss  Alice  Brown  Morrison,  in  a  pleasant  sketch  of  Colonel  Burr  in 
the  February,  1901,  number  of  Modern  Culture ',  gives  this  anecdote: 

"  Not  long  ago  the  writer  had  the  privilege  of  talking  with  a  most  de 
lightful  gentlewoman  who  forms  a  connecting  link  between  the  Colonial 
days  and  our  own  times,  when  the  conversation  turned  upon  the  heroes 
of  Revolutionary  times,  and  some  one  present  observed  that  while  we 
knew  the  '  real  George  Washington, '  there  was  one  man  whose  character 
would  never  be  as  an  open  book  to  us,  who  would  always  be  a  problem 
to  moralists  and  students  of  psychic  research,  and  that  man  was  Aaron 
Burr.  Then  the  old  lady's  eyes  suddenly  brightened  and  a  faint  color 
crept  into  her  cheeks,  as  she  said  with  a  fine  pride  in  her  voice,  '  I  once 
knew  Aaron  Burr,  and  many  a  time  as  a  child  have  I  sat  upon  his  knee, 
while  he  amused  me  with  some  of  his  fascinating  nonsense.' 

"  An  appreciative  murmur  of  surprise  and  delight  greeted  her,  and 
nothing  loath  she  told  her  little  story. 

"  '  I  was  a  child  six  years  old,  when  I  first  saw  Col.  Burr, '  she  said. 
'  My  father  was  giving  a  course  of  lectures  at  West  Point,  and  with  my 
mother,  my  little  sister,  and  myself  happened  to  be  stopping  at  the  same 
hotel  with  the  man  who  had  stirred  the  nations.  I  think  Col.  Burr  was 
in  West  Point  upon  legal  business,  but  that  I  cannot  remember;  what  I 
do  remember  distinctly  was  his  personal  appearance  which  left  an  in 
delible  impression  on  my  childish  memory,— a  rather  small,  exceedingly 
graceful  man,  straight  as  an  arrow,  dressed  wholly  in  black,  when  other 
men  wore  colors.  His  hair  was  snow  white,  and  under  his  white  eye 
brows  flashed  those  wonderful  black  eyes  whose  magnetic  attraction  few 
could  resist.  Every  child  in  the  house  adored  him,  and  we  followed  him 


62  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

about  like  faithful  dogs,  in  a  way  that  would  certainly  have  been  trying  to 
him  if  he  had  not  returned  our  devotion,  which  I  am  sure  he  did. 

"  '  Many  years  before  this,  when  Col.  Burr's  fame  was  at  its  zenith, 
he  happened  to  travel  in  the  same  stage  coach  with  my  father  and  mother, 
from  Utica  to  Albany.  It  seems  that  my  father  was  noted,  even  among 
the  gentlemen  of  the  old  school,  for  his  gentle  breeding  and  courtly  man 
ners,  and  particularly  for  his  devotion  to  his  wife.  My  mother  told  me 
that  Col.  Burr  kept  watching  them  in  silence  and  at  last  leaned  over 
towards  them  and  said  to  my  father:  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,  but  I  have 
never  seen  more  beautiful  courtesy  between  a  man  and  a  woman,  and  I 
have  been  puzzling  over  your  relationship.  I  have  decided  that  you  are 
too  devoted  for  brother  and  sister,  so  pray  tell  me  which  is  it,  wife  or 
sweetheart?" 

"  '  The  tone,  the  smile  with  which  this  question  was  accompanied  ;#as 
indescribably  winning,  and,  the  relationship  explained,  an  animated 
conversation  followed. 

"  '  Col.  Burr  did  not  forget  this  incident,  nor  did  my  parents  (indeed 
no  one  who  ever  came  in  contact  with  that  fascinating  man  ever  forgot 
the  circumstances),  and  when  they  met  again  at  West  Point  they  all 
became  great  friends.  We  children  could  hardly  wait  until  we  were 
dressed  for  the  afternoon,  when  we  made  straight  for  the  piazza,  where 
our  hero  was  sure  to  be  waiting  for  us.  We  had,  what  was  rare  at  that 
time  for  children,  a  little  wicker  carriage,  and  after  we  were  seated  in  it, 
Col.  Burr,  acting  as  horse,  would  run  nimbly  up  and  down  the  long 
piazza,  or  through  the  wide  corridors  with  us,  amidst  shrieks  of  delighted 
laughter  from  all  the  little  spectators.  How  I  wish  I  could  remember 
what  he  talked  of,  for  though  he  was  taciturn  when  men  were  near,  when 
he  was  with  women  and  children  his  mirth  bubbled  freely  and  spontane 
ously,  notwithstanding  the  trouble  the  years  had  brought  him.  Ah,  what 
a  man !  Who  shall  now  say  what  he  was  ?  Who  indeed  shall  say  what 
manner  of  man  he  was  ?  ' 

A  few  years  before  his  death  Colonel  Burr  married  Madame  Jumel,  a 
wealthy  lady  of  New  York,  and  many  years  his  junior.  The  marriage 
,  resulted  unhappily,  and  after  a  few  months  was  annulled. 


THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR.  63 

In  December,  1833,  while  Colonel  Burr  was  walking  in  Broadway  with 
a  friend,  he  was  stricken  with  a  paralysis,  which  confined  him  for  some 
weeks  to  his  room.  He  recovered  from  this  attack,  however,  almost 
whc-lly,  and  was  seen  about  the  streets  as  usual.  This  was  followed  in  a 
few  months  by  a  second  stroke,  which  deprived  him  forever  of  all  use  of 
his  lower  limbs;  two  years  of  inaction  then  followed,  during  which,  al 
though  his  mind  was  as  active  and  strong  as  ever,  his  physical  powers 
were  gradually  failing.  During  these  years  he  was  the  honored  guest  of 
a  lady,  whose  father  had  been  his  intimate  friend,  and  who  had  herself 
known  him  from  childhood.  This  lady  proved  to  be  a  true  Samaritan, 
one  of  those  rare  souls  who  embody  the  truths  of  Christianity  in  their 
lives.  Unmindful  of  the  construction  put  upon  her  acts  by  society,  she 
cared  for  the  old  man  with  tender  assiduity,  as  long  as  life  lasted,  and 
after  his  death  used  both  tongue  and  pen  in  defending  his  memory. 

In  the  spring  of  1836  he  grew  rapidly  weaker,  and  it  became  evident 
to  all  that  he  had  not  many  months  to  live.  It  chanced  that  the  house 
occupied  by  his  kind  benefactress  was  to  be  pulled  down  that  summer, 
and  the  Colonel  was  removed  for  the  season  to  the  inn  at  Port  Richmond, 
Staten  Island.  Here  he  died  on  Wednesday,  the  i4th  of  September, 
1836,  aged  nearly  eighty-one  years. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Van  Pelt  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  frequently 
visited  him  during  his  last  days  and  administered  spiritual  consolation ; 
and  Colonel  Burr  always  received  his  visits  with  courtesy  and  thankful 
ness.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  in  answer  to  the  Doctor's  queries  as 
to  his  view  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  he  responded,  "  They  are  the  most 
perfect  system  of  truth  the  world  has  ever  seen."  At  his  last  visit  the 
clergyman  inquired  as  to  his  faith  in  God  and  his  hope  of  salvation 
through  the  merits  of  Christ,  to  which  he  responded  with  evident  emo 
tion,  that  on  that  subject  he  was  coy,  meaning,  as  the  Doctor  thought, 
that  on  a  subject  so  momentous  he  felt  cautious  about  expressing  an 
opinion.  A  small  party  of  friends  accompanied  the  body  to  Princeton, 
where,  in  the  college  chapel,  the  funeral  ceremonies  were  performed. 
The  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  Dr.  Carnahan,  then  president  of  the 
college.  It  was  charitable  in  tone,  and  was  delivered  before  a  large 


64  THE  TRUE  AARON  BURR. 

audience,  composed  of  the  townspeople  and  the  college  students.  His 
remains  were  followed  to  the  grave  by  the  faculty  and  Cliosophic  Society 
of  the  college,  a  large  body  of  citizens,  and  by  a  detachment  of  the 
Mercer  Guards  of  Princeton,  who  fired  over  his  grave  the  customary  vol 
leys.  His  grave  is  near  those  of  his  honored  father  and  grandfather,  and 
is  marked  by  a  simple  and  unpretentious  monument  of  marble,  which 
bears  this  inscription : 

AARON   BURR. 

Born  February  6th,  1756. 

Died  September  i4th,  1836. 

A  Colonel  in  the  Army  of  the  Revolution. 

Vice- President  of  the  United  States  from  1801  to  1805. 


THEODOSIA  BURR  ALSTON. 

BORN  at  Albany,  1783,  lost  at  sea  in  January,  1813— between  the 
two  dates  fill  in  such  joy,  brilliant  promise,  beauty,  accomplish 
ments,  intense  sorrow,  and  tragic  fate,  as  never  woman  knew 
before,  and  one  has  the  history  of  this  remarkable  lady  in  epitome.  No 
daughter  ever  received  a  heartier  welcome  to  the  home  and  hearts  of 
her  parents,  and  none  ever  awakened  greater  parental  care  and  solici 
tude  than  did  she.  Her  father  was  so  constituted  that  while  he  would 
have  been  proud  of  and  honored  a  son,  a  daughter  called  out  all  the 
strength  and  affection  of  his  nature,  and  he  devoted  himself  to  her  care 
and  education  with  a  zeal  and  assiduity  that  knew  no  cessation.  With  the 
earliest  glimmering  of  reason  her  education  began.  She  was  taught  to  sleep 
alone  in  the  rooms  of  the  great  mansion  at  Richmond  Hill,  to  be  prompt, 
diligent,  and  self-reliant,  polite  and  mannerly  to  all,  kind  and  considerate 
to  her  inferiors,  and  was  grounded  in  all  the  elements  of  a  solid  and  orna 
mental  education.  At  the  age  of  ten,  "  she  was  precocious,  like  all  her 
race,  and  was  accounted  a  prodigy;  and  she  really  was  a  child  of  pre 
cocious  endowments."  She  is  also  spoken  of  at  this  time  as  having  the 
family  diminutiveness,  and  as  being  a  plump,  pretty,  and  blooming  girl. 
Her  father  had  the  utmost  horror  of  her  growing  into  the  mere  fashion 
able  woman  of  society  and,  while  a  senator  at  Philadelphia,  thus  wrote  to 
his  wife  on  the  subject:  "  Cursed  effects  of  fashionable  education,  of 
which  both  sexes  are  the  advocates,  and  yours  the  victims;  if  I  could 
foresee  that  Theo.  would  become  a  mere  fashionable  woman  with  all  the 
attendant  frivolity  and  vacuity  of  mind,  adorned  with  whatever  grace  or 
allurement,  I  would  earnestly  pray  God  to  take  her  forthwith  hence." 
There  was  not  much  danger  of  her  becoming  so,  for  at  the  time  that 
letter  was  written,  she  was  reading  Horace  and  Terence  in  the  original, 

65 


66  THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON. 

mastering  the  Greek  grammar,  studying  Gibbon,  speaking  French,  prac 
tising  on  the  piano,  and  taking  lessons  in  dancing  and  skating. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  she  became  the  mistress  of  her  father's  man 
sion  at  Richmond  Hill  and  entertained  his  numerous  guests — senators, 
judges,  grave  divines,  foreign  notabilities — with  the  most  charming  grace 
and  dignity.  At  that  early  age  she  was  her  father's  friend  and  counsel 
lor.  She  wrote  letters  that  displayed  a  masculine  force  and  directness. 
She  translated  grave  political  treatises  from  English  to  French,  was 
familiar  with  the  philosophical  and  economical  writers  of  her  day,  and 
proficient  in  the  Greek,  Latin,  and  German  tongues,  and  was,  what  she 
is  freely  admitted  to  have  been,  the  most  charming  and  accomplished 
woman  of  her  day.  In  her  eighteenth  year  she  was  married  to  Joseph 
Alston  of  South  Carolina,  then  twenty-two  years  of  age,  a  gentleman  of 
large  wealth  and  assured  position,  and  a  lawyer  by  profession,  though  he 
had  never  entered  into  practice. 

It  was  the  gossip  of  the  day,  and  still  believed  by  some,  that  she  was 
forced  into  this  marriage  by  her  father,  from  political  and  prudential 
reasons  chiefly,  while  she  was  really  in  love  with  a  young  writer  of  the 
town,  one  Washington  Irving,  whose  articles  in  the  newspapers  of  the  day 
were  then  attracting  much  attention.  But  the  story  lacks  confirmation. 
Irving  and  the  lovely  Theodosia  were  acquaintances,  it  is  true,  and  fre 
quently  met  in  society,  but  there  is  no  proof  of  any  intimacy  between  them. 

Immediately  after  her  marriage,  the  bride  accompanied  her  husband 
to  South  Carolina,  and  the  happy  pair  took  up  their  residence  at  the 
Oaks,  the  patrimonial  estate  of  Mr.  Alston,  and  one  of  the  most  charm 
ing  of  South  Carolina  homes.  Soon  after  his  marriage,  the  young  hus 
band,  spurred  by  Colonel  Burr's  vigorous  mind,  entered  public  life,  and 
in  a  few  years,  by  the  aid  of  his  talents  and  position,  was  elected  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  State.  To  add  to  the  young  wife's  happiness,  a  beauti 
ful  boy  was  born  in  the  first  year  of  her  marriage,  which  was  christened 
Aaron  Burr  Alston,  around  whom  the  liveliest  hopes  of  the  parents,  and 
of  the  far-off  grandfather  as  well,  clustered.  This  event  we  may  suppose 
completed  the  sum  of  her  happiness;  indeed  her  life,  for  the  first  five 
years  of  her  marriage,  was  all  brightness  and  sunshine.  An  honored 


THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON.  6/ 

wife  and  proud  mother,  beautiful,  accomplished,  and  fascinating,  a  Vice- 
President's  daughter,  and  a  Governor's  wife,  leading  the  society  of  two 
States,  petted  and  adored  by  all — who  could  at  this  time  have  foreseen 
her  coming  misfortunes  and  tragic  fate. 

In  the  summer  of  1806,  she  spent  some  weeks  with  her  father  at  Blen- 
nerhasset's  Island  and  on  the  Cumberland.  In  the  fall  they  parted;  he 
to  plant  his  colony  on  the  Washita,  and  if  events  favored  to  seat  himself 
on  the  throne  of  the  Montezumas;  she  to  return  to  South  Carolina,  and 
wait.  The  winter  passed.  In  May  she  was  horrified  to  learn  that  her 
father  was  in  jail  at  Richmond,  and  about  to  be  tried  for  his  life  on  a 
charge  of  treason,  but  letters  from  her  father,  which  swiftly  followed  the 
news,  allayed,  in  some  measure,  her  apprehensions.  They  assured  her 
of  his  innocence,  that  his  arrest  was  the  work  of  his  political  enemies,  and 
that  they  would  be  foiled,  and  himself  completely  exonerated  from  all 
charges.  But  the  devoted  daughter  felt  that  she  must  be  with  her  father 
in  this  hour  of  adversity,  and  at  once  set  out  for  Richmond;  she  arrived 
a  few  days  before  the  trial  began,  and  remained  until  it  was  concluded 
by  the  acquittal  of  her  father,  spending  most  of  the  time  in  the  prison 
with  him,  and  proudly  sharing  the  odium  that  was  gathering  about  his 
name. 

What  she  thought,  and  how  she  felt  in  regard  to  her  father's  alleged 
crime,  and  the  labors  of  his  enemies,  is  very  frankly  stated  in  the  follow 
ing  letter  written  to  a  friend  at  the  conclusion  of  the  trial: 

"  I  have  this  moment  received  a  message  from  court,  announcing  to 
me  that  the  jury  has  brought  in  a  verdict  of  acquittal,  and  I  hasten  to  in 
form  you  of  it,  my  dear,  to  allay  the  anxiety  which,  with  even  more  than 
your  usual  sweetness,  you  have  expressed  in  your  letter  of  the  22d  of 
July.  It  afflicts  me,  indeed,  to  think  that  you  should  have  suffered  so 
much  from  sympathy  with  the  imagined  state  of  my  feelings;  for  the 
knowledge  of  my  father's  innocence,  my  ineffable  contempt  for  his 
enemies,  and  the  elevation  of  his  mind  have  kept  me  above  any  sensations 
bordering  on  depression.  Indeed,  my  father,  so  far  from  accepting  of 
sympathy,  has  continually  animated  all  around  him;  it  was  common  to 
see  his  desponding  friends,  filled  with  alarm  at  some  new  occurrence, 


68  THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON. 

terrified  with  some  new  appearance  of  danger,  fly  to  him  in  search  of  en 
couragement  and  support,  and  laughed  out  of  their  fears  by  the  subject 
of  them.  This  I  have  witnessed  every  day,  and  it  almost  persuaded  me 
that  he  possessed  the  secret  of  repelling  danger  as  well  as  apprehension. 
Since  my  residence  here,  of  which  some  days  and  a  night  were  passed  in 
the  penetentiary,  our  little  family  circle  has  been  a  scene  of  uninterrupted 
gayety.  Thus  you  see,  my  lovely  sister,  this  visit  has  been  a  real  party 
of  pleasure.  From  many  of  the  first  inhabitants,  I  have  received  the 
most  unremitting  and  delicate  attentions,  sympathy,  indeed,  of  any  I  ever 
experienced." 

Nor  did  her  devotion  falter  during  subsequent  years,  when  her  father 
was  an  exile,  and  in  his  own  country  everywhere  spoken  against.  She 
gladly  shared  his  reproach,  as  she  had  his  honor,  and  for  those  who, 
without  a  particle  of  evidence,  and  in  the  face  of  his  triumphant  vindica 
tion  by  the  courts,  could  condemn  and  ostracize  the  innocent,  she  ex 
pressed  only  the  most  unmitigated  contempt.  Meantime  she  wrote  letters 
of  womanly  tenderness  and  cheer  to  the  exile,  and  eagerly  watched  the 
political  horizon  for  signs  of  an  abatement  of  the  popular  resentment. 
She  also  addressed  letters  to  eminent  public  men,  pleading  her  fathers' 
cause,  and  asking  their  opinion  as  to  his  safety  should  he  venture  to  re 
turn  to  his  native  land.  Some  idea  of  the  style  and  force  of  these  epistles 
may  be  gathered  from  the  following,  addressed  to  Mrs.  James  Madison, 
wife  of  the  President,  on  this  subject,  and  with  whom  she  had  been  quite 
intimate  in  brighter  days. 

"  ROCKY  RIVER  SPRINGS,  June  24th,  1809. 

"  MADAM: — You  may  perhaps  be  surprised  at  receiving  a  letter  from 
one  with  whom  you  have  had  so  little  intercourse  for  the  last  few  years. 
But  your  surprise  will  cease  when  you  recollect  that  my  father,  once  your 
friend,  is  now  in  exile;  and  that  the  President  only  can  restore  him  to  me 
and  to  his  country.  Ever  since  the  choice  of  the  people  was  first  declared 
in  favor  of  Mr.  Madison,  my  heart,  amid  the  universal  joy,  has  beat  with 
the  hope  that  I  too  should  soon  have  reason  to  rejoice.  Convinced  that 
Mr.  Madison  would  neither  feel,  nor  judge,  from  the  feelings  or  judgment 


THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON.  69 

of  others,  I  had  no  doubt  of  his  hastening  to  relieve  a  man,  whose  char 
acter  he  had  been  enabled  to  appreciate  during  a  confidential  intercourse 
of  long  continuance,  and  whom  he  must  know  incapable  of  the  designs 
attributed  to  him.  My  anxiety  on  this  subject  has,  however,  become  too 
painful  to  be  alleviated  by  anticipations  which  no  events  have  yet  tended 
to  justify,  and  in  this  state  of  intolerable  suspense,  I  have  determined  to 
address  myself  to  you,  and  request  that  you  will,  in  my  name,  apply  to 
the  President  for  a  removal  of  the  prosecution  now  existing  against  Aaron 
Burr.  I  still  expect  it  from  him,  as  a  man  of  feeling  and  candor,  as  one 
acting  for  the  world  and  for  posterity. 

' '  Statesmen,  I  am  aware,  deem  it  necessary  that  sentiments  of  liber 
ality,  and  even  justice,  should  yield  to  considerations  of  policy,  but  what 
policy  can  require  the  absence  of  my  father  at  present  ?  Even  had  he 
contemplated  the  project  for  which  he  stands  arraigned,  evidently  to  pur 
sue  it  any  further  would  now  be  impossible.  There  is  not  left  one  pretext 
of  alarm,  even  to  calumny.  For  bereft  of  fortune,  of  popular  favor,  and 
almost  of  friends,  what  could  he  accomplish ;  and  whatever  may  be  the 
apprehensions,  or  clamors  of  the  ignorant  and  the  interested,  surely  the 
timid,  illiberal  system  which  would  sacrifice  a  man  to  a  remote  and  un 
reasonable  possibility  that  he  might  infringe  some  law  founded  on  an  un 
just,  unwarrantable  suspicion  that  he  would  desire  it,  cannot  be  approved 
by  Mr.  Madison,  and  must  be  unnecessary  to  a  President  so  loved,  so 
honored.  Why,  then,  is  my  father  banished  from  a  country  for  which  he 
has  encountered  wounds,  and  dangers,  and  fatigue,  for  years  ?  Why  is  he 
driven  from  his  friends,  from  an  only  child,  to  pass  an  unlimited  time 
in  exile,  and  that,  too,  at  an  age  when  others  are  reaping  the  harvest  of 
past  toils,  or  ought  at  least  to  be  providing  seriously  for  the  comfort  of 
ensuing  years  ?  I  do  not  seek  to  soften  you  by  this  recapitulation.  I 
wish  only  to  remind  you  of  all  the  injuries  which  are  inflicted  on  one  of 
the  first  characters  the  United  States  ever  produced.  Perhaps  it  may  be 
well  to  assure  you  there  is  no  truth  in  a  report  lately  circulated  that  my 
father  intends  returning  immediately. 

"  He  never  will  return  to  conceal  himself  in  a  country  on  which  he 
has  conferred  distinction.  To  whatever  fate  Mr.  Madison  may  doom  this 


70  THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON. 

application,  I  trust  it  will  be  treated  with  delicacy.  Of  this  I  am  the 
more  desirous,  as  Mr.  Alston  is  ignorant  of  the  step  I  have  taken  in  writ 
ing  to  you,  which,  perhaps  nothing  could  excuse  but  the  warmth  of  filial 
affection.  If  it  be  an  error,  attribute  it  to  the  indiscreet  zeal  of  a  daugh 
ter  whose  soul  sinks  at  the  gloomy  prospect  of  a  long  and  indefinite 
separation  from  a  father  almost  adored,  and  who  can  leave  nothing  unat- 
tempted,  which  offers  the  slightest  hope  of  procuring  him  redress.  What 
indeed  would  I  not  risk  once  more  to  see  him,  to  hang  upon  him,  to 
place  my  child  upon  his  knee,  and  again  spend  my  days  in  the  happy  oc 
cupation  of  endeavoring  to  anticipate  his  wishes.  Let  me  entreat,  my 
dear  madam,  that  you  will  have  the  consideration  and  goodness  to  answer 
me  as  speedily  as  possible;  my  heart  is  sore  with  doubt  and  patient  wait 
ing  for  something  definite.  No  apologies  are  made  for  giving  you  this 
trouble,  which  I  am  sure  you  will  not  deem  it  irksome  to  take  for  a 
daughter,  an  affectionate  daughter  thus  situated.  Inclose  your  letter  for 
me  to  A.  J.  Frederic  Prevost,  Esq.,  near  New  Rochelle,  New  York. 
"  That  every  happiness  may  attend  you  is  the  sincere  wish  of 

THEO.  BURR  ALSTON. 

"  To  Mrs.  James  Madison^  Washington,  D.  C." 

It  was  from  assurances  received  in  answer  to  this  letter,  that  Colonel 
Burr,  in  1810,  began  to  think  once  more  of  his  native  land.  In  the  spring 
of  1812  her  father  arrived  in  Boston,  but  hardly  had  the  news  of  his  ar 
rival  reached  her,  when  she  was  called  upon  to  suffer  a  bereavement,  be 
side  which  those  that  had  preceded  it  seemed  trifles  light  as  air.  Her 
boy,  her  only  child,  a  handsome  promising  lad  of  eleven  years,  the  "  little 
Gamp  "  so  frequently  mentioned  in  Burr's  letters,  sickened  and  died. 
This  blow  shattered  in  an  instant  the  hopes  of  years,  and  plunged  both 
parents  and  grandfather  in  the  deepest  depths  of  affliction. 

"  But  a  few  miserable  days  past,"  wrote  the  poor  bereaved  mother  to 
her  father,  announcing  her  loss,  "  and  your  late  letters  would  have  glad 
dened  my  soul,  and  even  now  I  rejoice  at  their  contents,  as  much  as  it  is 
possible  for  me  to  rejoice  at  anything;  but  there  is  no  more  joy  for  me. 
The  world  is  a  blank.  I  have  lost  my  boy.  My  child  is  gone  forever. 


THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON.  71 

He  expired  on  the  3oth  of  June.  My  head  is  not  sufficiently  collected 
to  say  anything  further.  May  Heaven  by  other  things  make  you  some 
amends  for  the  noble  grandson  you  have  lost.  He  was  eleven  years  old.'" 

The  mother  never  recovered  from  the  effects  of  this  shock.  For  years 
her  health  had  been  delicate,  owing  in  some  measure,  no  doubt,  to  the 
unfavorable  influence  of  the  climate;  as  early  as  1805  she  had  been 
forced  to  admit  the  probability  of  an  early  death,  and  at  that  time  pre 
pared  a  letter  to  be  given  to  her  husband  after  her  death,  and  which  was 
found  among  her  effects  after  her  decease  in  1813.  This  letter,  so  nat 
ural,  and  so  characteristic,  conveys  a  better  idea  of  the  life  and  character 
of  this  remarkable  woman,  than  could  pages  of  studied  description  and 
eulogy.  It  was  intended  for  one  eye  alone,  but  as  it  has  been  before 
published,  and  as  it  exhibits  its  author  in  a  most  favorable  light,  there  can 
be  no  impropriety  in  reproducing  it  here. 

The  following  is  the  letter. 

"  Aug.  6,  1805. 

"  Whether  it  is  the  effect  of  extreme  debility  and  disordered  nerves, 
or  whether  it  is  really  presentiment,  the  existence  of  which  I  have  often 
been  told  of  and  always  doubted,  I  cannot  tell;  but  something  whispers 
me  that  my  end  approaches.  In  vain  I  reason  with  myself;  in  vain  I  oc 
cupy  my  mind  and  seek  to  fix  my  attention  on  other  subjects;  there  is 
about  me  that  dreadful  heaviness  and  sinking  of  the  heart,  that  awful 
foreboding  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  divest  myself. 

"  Perhaps  I  am  now  standing  on  the  brink  of  eternity,  and  ere  I  plunge 
in  the  fearful  abyss,  I  have  some  few  requests  to  make.  I  wish  your  sis 
ters  (one  of  them,  it  is  immaterial  which)  would  select  from  my  clothes 
certain  things  which,  they  will  easily  perceive,  belonged  to  my  mother. 
These,  with  whatever  lace  they  find  in  a  large  trunk  in  a  garret-room  of 
the  Oaks  House,  added  to  a  little  satin-wood  box,  (the  largest,  and  hav 
ing  a  lock  and  key,)  and  a  black  satin  embroidered  box  with  a  pin 
cushion  ;  all  these  things  I  wish  they  would  put  together  in  one  trunk, 
and  send  them  to  Frederic  Prevost,  with  the  enclosed  letter." 

Then  follow  several  bequests,  after  which  the  letter  continues: 


?2  THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON. 

"  To  you,  my  beloved,  I  leave  my  child,  the  child  of  my  bosom,  who 
was  once  a  part  of  myself,  and  from  whom  I  shall  shortly  be  separated  by 
the  cold  grave.  You  love  him  now,  henceforth  love  him  for  me  also. 
And  oh,  my  husband,  attend  to  this  last  prayer  of  a  doting  mother! 
Never,  never,  listen  to  what  any  other  person  tells  you  of  him.  Be  your 
self  his  judge  on  all  occasions.  He  has  faults;  see  them  and  correct 
them  yourself.  Desist  not  an  instant  from  your  endeavors  to  secure  his 
confidence.  It  is  a  work  which  requires  as  much  uniformity  of  conduct 
as  warmth  of  affection  toward  him. 

"  I  know,  my  beloved,  that  you  can  perceive  what  is  right  on  this  sub 
ject,  as  on  every  other.  But  recollect,  these  are  the  last  words  I  can  ever 
utter.  It  will  tranquillize  my  last  moments  to  have  disburdened  myself 
of  them.  I  fear  you  will  scarcely  be  able  to  read  this  scrawl,  but  I  feel 
hurried  and  agitated.  Death  is  not  welcome  to  me ;  I  confess  it  is  ever 
dreaded.  You  have  made  me  too  fond  of  life.  Adieu  then,  thou  kind, 
thou  tender  husband.  Adieu,  friend  of  my  heart.  May  Heaven  prosper 
you,  and  may  we  meet  hereafter.  Adieu,  perhaps  we  may  never  see  each 
other  again  in  this  world.  You  are  away;  I  wished  to  hold  you  fast,  and 
prevent  you  from  going  this  morning. 

"  But  He  who  is  wisdom  itself  ordains  events;  we  must  submit  to 
them.  Least  of  all  should  I  murmur.  I  on  whom  so  many  blessings  have 
been  showered,  whose  days  have  been  numbered  by  bounties,  who  have 
had  such  a  husband,  such  a  child,  and  such  a  father.  Oh,  pardon  me, 
my  God,  if  I  regret  leaving  these!  I  resign  myself.  Adieu  once  more 
and  for  the  last  time,  my  beloved.  Speak  of  me  often  to  our  son.  Let 
him  love  the  memory  of  his  mother,  and  let  him  know  how  he  was  loved 
by  her. 

"  Your  wife,  your  fond  wife, 

"THEO." 

This  letter  was  written  in  the  summer  of  1805.  In  this  summer  of 
1812,  her  malady  had  greatly  increased.  She  sank  into  a  listless,  apa 
thetic  state,  pitiful  to  see  and  from  which  it  was  difficult  to  rouse  her.  Her 
boy  was  dead,  henceforth  life  was  a  blank,  and  existence  a  burden.  In 
the  fall,  her  father,  alarmed,  insisted  that  she  should  come  North;  he 


THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON.  73 

even  sent  an  old  friend  to  her  home  to  accompany  her  on  the  journey. 
It  was  manifestly  impossible  for  her  in  her  enfeebled  state  to  make  the 
journey  by  land,  and  the  party,  comprising  Theodosia,  her  maid,  her  phy 
sician/  and  Mr.  Green,  proceeded  to  Charleston,  and  embarked  on  a  small 
schooner  called  the  Patriot.  The  vessel  sailed  on  the  30th  of  December, 
1812,  and  was  never  again  heard  of.  It  was  the  commonly  received 
opinion  that  she  foundered  off  Hatteras,  in  a  heavy  storm  that  visited  the 
coast  a  few  days  after  she  left  port;  but  forty  years  after  a  paragraph 
appeared  in  a  Texan  newspaper  and  went  the  rounds  of  the  press,  giving 
a  different  version  of  her  fate. 

This  paragraph  purported  to  be  the  confession  of  a  sailor  who  had 
recently  died  in  Texas,  and  who  declared  on  his  death-bed  that  he  was 
one  of  the  crew  of  the  Patriot  in  December,  1812,  and  that  during  the 
voyage  the  sailors  mutinied  and  murdered  all  the  officers  and  passengers, 
Mrs.  Alston  being  the  last  to  walk  the  plank. 

To  this  statement  the  Pennsylvania  Enquirer  added  corroborative  evi 
dence  as  follows: 

"  An  item  of  news  just  now  going  the  rounds  relates  that  a  sailor,  who 
died  in  Texas,  confessed  on  his  death-bed  that  he  was  one  of  the  crew  of 
mutineers  who,  some  forty  years  ago,  took  possession  of  a  brig  on  its  pas 
sage  from  Charleston  to  New  York,  and  caused  all  the  officers  and  pas 
sengers  to  walk  the  plank.  For  forty  years  the  wretched  man  has  carried 
about  the  dreadful  secret,  and  died  at  last  in  an  agony  of  despair. 

"What  gives  this  story  additional  interest  is  the  fact  that  the  vessel 
referred  to  is  the  one  in  which  Mrs.  Theodosia  Alston,  the  beloved 
daughter  of  Aaron  Burr,  took  passage  for  New  York,  for  the  purpose  of 
1  meeting  her  parent  in  the  darkest  days  of  his  existence,  and  which,  never 
shaving  been  heard  of,  was  supposed  to  have  been  foundered  at  sea.  The 
dying  sailor  professed  to  remember  her  well,  said  she  was  the  last  who 
perished,  and  that  he  never  forgot  her  look  of  despair  as  she  took  the  last 
step  from  the  fatal  plank.  On  reading  this  account,  I  regarded  it  as  a 
fiction ;  but  on  conversing  with  an  officer  of  the  navy  he  assures  me  of 
its  probable  truth,  and  states  that  on  one  of  his  passages  home  some 
years  ago,  his  vessel  brought  two  pirates  in  irons,  who  were  subsequently 


74  THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON. 

executed  at  Norfolk  for  recent  offences,  and  who,  before  their  execution, 
confessed  that  they  had  been  members  of  the  same  crew  and  participated 
in  the  murder  of  Mrs.  Alston  and  her  companions.  Whatever  opinion 
may  be  entertained  of  the  father,  the  memory  of  the  daughter  must  be 
revered  as  one  of  the  loveliest  and  most  excellent  of  American  women, 
and  the  revelation  of  her  untimely  fate  can  only  serve  to  invest  that  mem 
ory  with  a  more  tender  and  melancholy  interest." 

And  this  is  all  that  can  be  certainly  known  in  regard  to  her  death. 
The  reader  will  draw  his  own  conclusions;  but  in  either  case  what  a 
tragic  fate  was  hers!  To  her  father  this  was  the  "  event  that  separated 
him  from  the  human  race."  To  her  husband,  thus  doubly  bereaved,  it 
proved  a  blow  from  the  effects  of  which  he  never  fully  recovered.  He 
survived  his  wife  and  child  but  a  few  years,  dying  at  Charleston,  Septem 
ber  loth,  1816,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-eight  years. 

A  recent  writer  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  after  repeating  the 
above  extract,  continues: 

"Seventeen  years  later,  in  1869,  Dr.  W.  G.  Pool,  a  physician  of 
Elizabeth  City,  N.  C.,  was  summering  with  his  family  at  Nag's  Head,  a 
summer  resort  on  the  outer  barrier  of  sand  which  protects  the  North 
Carolina  coast,  about  fifty  miles  north  of  Cape  Hatteras.  While  here  he 
made  an  interesting  discovery,  an  account  of  which  we  copy  from  the 
correspondence  of  the  Philadelphia  Times  of  February  20,  1880: 

"  During  that  season  he  was  called  upon  professionally  to  visit  a  lady 
named  Mrs.  Mann,  who  lived  two  miles  north  of  Nag's  Head  and  directly 
opposite  Kitty  Hawk,  where  the  United  States  man-of-war  Huron  met 
her  fate.  The  old  lady  was  sixty-five  years  of  age,  but  never  had  occa 
sion  to  seek  the  services  of  a  physician  before,  and  whatever  her  com 
plaint  was  now,  the  Doctor  cured  her.  She  had  great  fear  of  physicians 
in  general,  and  when  she  became  well,  her  gratitude  to  Dr.  Pool  was  so 
intense  '  for  not  killing  her, '  as  she  expressed  herself,  that  she  told  him  he 
could  have  anything  in  her  possession  except  money,  and  of  that  she  had 
none.  The  Doctor  stated  to  her  that  he  would  make  no  charge,  but  be 
coming  interested  in  the  strange  being  before  him  he,  in  company  with  his 


THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON.  75 

little  daughter,  who  is  now  a  young  lady,  paid  the  old  woman  almost  daily 
visits.  The  house  in  which  Mrs.  Mann  resided  was  quaint,  though  hum 
ble,  and  the  surroundings  were  of  the  same  nature.  But  what  puzzled 
the  Doctor  most  was  where  a  woman  of  Mrs.  Mann's  position  in  society 
could  have  obtained  such  a  fine  oil  painting,  it  being  evidently  the  por 
trait  of  a  handsome,  intelligent  lady,  of  high  standing  in  the  social  world. 
He  was  on  the  eve  of  questioning  the  old  woman  several  times,  but  al 
ways  failed,  afraid  to  offend  by  touching  on  some  delicate  subject;  but 
his  daughter  came  to  his  relief  by  saying:  '  Father,  I  have  fallen  in  love 
with  that  beautiful  picture.  Please  buy  it  for  me.'  This  was  the  first 
occasion  Mrs.  Mann  had  for  proving  her  gratitude  to  the  Doctor  '  for 
not  killing  her, '  and  overhearing  the  child  she  said :  '  You  can  have  it, 
honey;  I  will  make  you  a  present  of  it.'  The  little  girl  was  overjoyed  at 
becoming  the  possessor  of  what  at  that  time  she  desired  most  of  all  on 
earth ;  but  her  father  was  not  yet  satisfied,  and  determined  to  learn  the 
secret  of  that  picture  if  possible.  So  after  many  visits  of  a  kindly  nature 
the  old  lady  agreed  to  tell  her  story. 

'  Some  years  before  my  marriage  with  my  first  husband,  Mr.  Til- 
lett,'  she  said,  'and  while  we  were  courting,  a  pilot-boat  came  ashore 
near  Kitty  Hawk.  She  had  all  sail  set  and  the  rudder  was  fastened.  Mr. 
Tillett,  in  company  with  the  wreckers,  boarded  her,  and  in  the  cabin  they 
found  the  breakfast-table  set,  but  not  disturbed.  Why  we  thought  it  was 
that  meal  was  because  the  beds  were  not  made  up.  Anyhow,  the  trunks 
were  broken  open,  and  among  the  things  scattered  about  on  the  cabin 
floor  were  several  silk  dresses,  a  black  lace  shawl,  a  vase  of  wax  flowers, 
with  a  glass  globe  covering,  a  shell  resembling  the  shape  of  the  nautilus, 
beautifully  carved,  and  the  lovely  picture.  There  was  no  blood  seen  on 
the  vessel  or  any  sign  of  violence,  and  my  opinion  was  that  the  passengers 
and  crew  on  that  pilot  boat  walked  the  plank ;  the  rudder  was  tied  up  and 
the  vessel  turned  adrift.  My  future  husband  took  for  his  share  of  the 
spoils  two  dresses,  the  shell,  vase,  and  picture,  all  of  which  he  presented 
to  me,  and  I  have  kept  them  ever  since.  This  was  years  ago.  I  don't 
remember  the  year,  but  it  was  very  near  the  time  we  were  fighting  the 
English.  This  is  all  I  know  about  the  picture,  and  as  your  father  did 


?6  THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON 

not  kill  me,  you  are  welcome  to  it,  honey.     Wait  a  bit  and  I  '11  bring  the 
other  things  for  you  to  look  at. ' 

"The  articles  mentioned  were  then  put  before  Dr.  Pool  and  his 
daughter  for  inspection  and  the  young  lady  says  there  is  no  doubt  but 
that  everything  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Mann  once  belonged  to  some 
lady  of  culture,  taste,  and  refinement.  The  old  lady  told  her  story  in  a 
hesitating  manner  and  the  chances  are  that  much  remained  untold. 

"  The  portrait  bore  so  striking  a  resemblance  to  Theodosia  Alston  as 
to  be  remarked  by  all  who  saw  it  and  who  were  familiar  with  the  engraved 
portraits  of  that  lady.  The  circumstance  of  the  vessel's  coming  ashore  at 
about  the  time  the  Patriot  left  Georgetown,  coupled  with  the  dying 
sailor's  declaration,  led  the  Doctor  and  his  family  to  believe  that  Mrs. 
Mann's  *  pilot-boat '  was  the  Patriot,  and  that  the  portrait  so  strangely 
found  was  one  of  herself  that  Mrs.  Alston  was  taking  to  her  father.  Act 
ing  on  this  belief,  and  to  test  its  accuracy,  they  had  photographs  of  the 
portrait  made,  and  sent  them  to  artists  and  friends  of  the  family  for  their 
opinion.  These  in  most  cases  pronounced  the  portrait  a  likeness  of  Mrs. 
Alston.  Mr.  George  B.  Edwards  of  New  York,  a  connection  of  the  lady 
on  her  mother's  side,  wrote:  '  My  father  agrees  with  me  in  the  belief  that 
it  is  Aaron  Burr's  daughter.  She  certainly  has  his  eyes  and  the  Edwards 
nose.'  The  photograph  was  also  shown  to  Col.  John  H.  Wheeler,  the 
historian  of  North  Carolina,  and  to  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  Sully,  the 
portrait-painter,  herself  a  sculptor  of  merit,  who  both  pronounced  it  a 
striking  likeness  of  Theodosia." 

The  writer,  being  in  the  vicinity  of  Dr.  Pool's  home  in  1889,  paid 
him  a  visit  and  was  shown  the  portrait.  It  is  an  oil  painting  on  wood, 
with  gilt  frame  about  twenty  inches  in  length,  and  of  the  school  of  art  in 
vogue  in  1800-10.  Familiar  with  three  portraits  of  Theodosia  by  differ 
ent  artists,  he  at  once  recognized  a  marked  resemblance,  although  he 
would  hesitate  confidently  to  pronounce  it  a  portrait  of  that  lady;  yet  the 
difference  was  no  more  than  might  have  resulted  from  a  difference  in  age. 
In  the  hope  of  gaming  corroborative  evidence  as  to  the  identity  of  the 
portrait,  he  crossed  over  Albemarle  Sound  to  Nag's  Head.  Mrs.  Mann, 


THEODOSIA   BURR  ALSTON  77 

he  learned,  had  been  dead  several  years.  Two  sons  were  found  living 
among  the  dunes  of  that  strange  coast  five  miles  north  of  the  Head.  Both 
disclaimed  ever  having  seen  or  heard  of  portrait,  dresses,  vase,  or  shell, 
but  referred  him  to  an  elder  sister,  Mrs.  Westcott,  a  widow  living  on 
Roanoke  Island,  who  might  possibly  have  been  more  in  their  mother's 
confidence  than  they.  Before  leaving  on  this  errand,  however,  he  made 
diligent  inquiry  among  the  wreckers  for  any  tradition  or  memory  of  the 
pilot-boat,  without  awakening  a  single  recollection.  This,  however,  does 
not  militate  against  Dr.  Pool's  story,  for  the  '  banker '  of  to-day,  although 
he  does  not,  like  his  forefathers,  lure  ships  ashore  and  strip  the  wreck,  is 
still  very  reticent  as  to  what  was  done  on  these  sands  generations  ago. 
Unsuccessful  on  the  banks,  he  crossed  the  Sound  to  Roanoke  and  visited 
Mrs.  Westcott  at  her  pleasant  cottage  on  the  western  shore  of  the  island. 
She  is  a  woman  of  excellent  reputation,  and  favorably  impressed  the  visi 
tor  by  her  intelligence  and  sincerity. 

She  recollected  the  portrait,  and  remembered  hearing  her  mother 
say  it  was  found  in  a  bureau  or  chest  of  drawers  that  floated  ashore  when 
she  was  a  baby;  had  never  seen  or  heard  of  the  silk  dresses,  shell,  or  vase. 
No  one  who  is  acquainted  with  Dr.  Pool  or  his  daughter  can  doubt  the 
truth  of  their  story.  Mrs.  Mann  must  have  told  them  what  she  is  said  to 
have  told  them.  But  what  she  did  with  the  articles  which  they  saw  in 
her  cottage  in  1869,  and  what  circumstances  attended  their  getting  that 
she  should  have  hidden  them  from  her  children  and  neighbors  through 
a  long  life,  is  one  of  the  many  mysteries  of  these  sands  that  will  never  be 
solved. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


410V    7  1967  a  vi 

DEC    7^7 

RtceivEfc 

*W  18  '67  -3PM 

LOAN  HfrpT 

V''Afi 

$^i,w^ 

LEG  1  1  '68  -if!  AM 

|  OA*M   np°T 

' 

i 

REC.CIK.    OEC15T3 

LD  21A-60r/i-2,'67 
(H241slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YB  37667 


